I would argue people did not value historical monuments the same way we are valuing them now. When I grew up Beijing, there’s quite a few 四合院, which is basically a house with 4 sides and a central courtyard. People abandoned those to live in new modern buildings.
Now, some of those are worth up to hundreds of millions of dollars due to historic value.
JlwRfwkm t1_je7l8re wrote
Reply to eli5 why ancient historical buildings haven’t been kept up? Why are buildings like the Parthenon and the Colosseum in such disrepair? Greece and Rome/Italy have existed the entire time? by PickledSpace56
I would argue people did not value historical monuments the same way we are valuing them now. When I grew up Beijing, there’s quite a few 四合院, which is basically a house with 4 sides and a central courtyard. People abandoned those to live in new modern buildings.
Now, some of those are worth up to hundreds of millions of dollars due to historic value.