Editing Vandalism (section)

==Etymology==
[[File:Genseric sacking rome 456.jpg|thumb|The Vandals sacking [[Rome]] in 455 AD, painted by [[Karl Bryullov]] {{Circa|1830}}]]
The [[Vandals]], an ancient [[Germanic people]], are associated with senseless destruction as a result of their [[Sack of Rome (455)|sack of Rome]] under King [[Genseric]] in 455. During the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], Rome was idealized, while the [[Goths]] and Vandals were blamed for its destruction. The Vandals may not have been any more destructive than other invaders of ancient times, but they did inspire English poet [[John Dryden]] to write, ''Till Goths, and Vandals, a rude Northern race, Did all the matchless Monuments deface'' (1694). However, the Vandals did intentionally damage statues, which may be why their name is associated with the [[vandalism of art]]. The term ''Vandalisme'' was coined in 1794 by [[Henri Grégoire]], [[bishop of Blois]], to describe the destruction of artwork following the [[French Revolution]]. The term was quickly adopted across Europe. This new use of the term was important in colouring the perception of the Vandals from later Late Antiquity, popularizing the pre-existing idea that they were a barbaric group with a taste for destruction.<ref>Merrills and Miles 2010, pp. 9–10.</ref>

Historically, vandalism has been justified by painter [[Gustave Courbet]] as destruction of monuments symbolizing "war and conquest". Therefore, it is often done as an expression of contempt, creativity, or both. Courbet's attempt, during the 1871 [[Paris Commune]], to dismantle the [[Place Vendôme|Vendôme column]], a symbol of the past [[Napoleon III of France|Napoleon III]] authoritarian Empire, was one of the most celebrated events of vandalism. [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]] himself would meditate after the Commune on the "fight against culture", taking as example the intentional burning of the [[Tuileries Palace]] on 23 May 1871. "The criminal fight against culture is only the reverse side of a criminal culture" wrote [[Pierre Klossowski|Klossowski]] after quoting Nietzsche.<ref name="klossowski">See [[Pierre Klossowski]], ''Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle'', first Chapter: What is the value of culture if those who are exploited by it destroy it? ''"En sorte qu'il nous faut être bien loin de vouloir, du haut de notre sentiment de nous-mêmes, imputer le crime d'un combat contre la culture exclusivement à ces malheureux.'' Je sais ce que cela veut dire: le combat contre la culture. (...) '' je me campronnai avec une conviction sérieuse à la valeur métaphysique de l'art, lequel ne saurait exister à cause des pauvres gens, mais doit accomplir des missions plus hautes. Mais, en dépit de mon extrême douleur, je n'étais pas en état de jeter la moindre pierre à ces profanateurs qui, pour moi, n'étaient que les suppôts de la culpabilité universelle, sur laquelle il y a beaucoup à méditer!"'' Nietzsche quoted by Klossowski pp. 29–30 French edition, who adds: ''"Le combat criminel contre la culture n'est lui-même que l'envers d'une culture criminelle"'' ("The criminal fight against culture is only the reverse side of a criminal culture")</ref>

In a proposal to the International Conference for Unification of Criminal Law held in Madrid in 1933, [[Raphael Lemkin]] envisaged the creation of two new international crimes (delicta [[jus gentium|juris gentium]]): the crime of barbarity, consisting in the extermination of racial, religious, or social collectivities, and the crime of vandalism, consisting in the destruction of cultural and artistic works of these groups.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Raphael |last=Lemkin |author-link=Raphael Lemkin |url=http://www.preventgenocide.org/de/lemkin/anwaltsblatt1933.htm |title=Akte der Barbarei und des Vandalismus als delicta juris gentium |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225075351/http://www.preventgenocide.org/de/lemkin/anwaltsblatt1933.htm |archive-date=25 February 2021 |journal=Anwaltsblatt Internationales (Wien) |date=November 1933 |language=de}}</ref> The proposal was not accepted. A figurative accusation of vandalism was applied towards the theology of [[Marcion of Sinope]].<ref name="Birch 2019 p. 76">{{cite book | last=Birch | first=J.C.P. | title=Jesus in an Age of Enlightenment: Radical Gospels from Thomas Hobbes to Thomas Jefferson | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK | series=Christianities in the Trans-Atlantic World | year=2019 | isbn=978-1-137-51276-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eOijDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA76 | access-date=2023-06-20 | page=76}}</ref>