Just a few days ago a massive fire took over the pearl of gothic architecture, Notre-Dame de Paris. The images of the cathedral on fire spread in just a few moments, making the whole world shutter and whisper the words of solidarity with France. Notre-Dame has lived through wars and revolutions, but we couldn’t keep it safe in the 21st century. It’s sad, but we keep losing the gorgeous places we love, even though we have everything it takes to protect them.

Here at Bright Side we want to remember the beautiful architectural and natural sites that we’ve lost over the last 5 years, in hopes that we all can do something to stop it.

1. Notre-Dame de Paris, Paris, France

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Joshua Tree national park is a wonderful place that boasts of unique desert ecosystems with surreal geological features and a great variety of the most unusual plants. The ranger supervision was considerably reduced during these days, and the park suffered from terrible vandalism.

People cut down the tress, started fires, damaged the trails, and left graffiti on these amazing spots. One of the park’s former superintendents said, that the park might take 200 to 300 years to recover from the damage it got over just a couple of weeks.

5. The Little Mermaid, Copenhagen, Denmark

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It’s not a secret that tourism ruins landmarks, but it still sounds unbelievable when people destroy 320 million years of history in just a few seconds. In June of 2018, kids toppled one of the balancing rocks in Brimham Rocks, and the stone broke into pieces.

These weirdly shaped balancing rocks have been formed by wind and ice over millions of years, but for some reason people found it appropriate to ruin this beauty and piece of history. Apart from physically ruining the natural treasure, they also carve their names on these stones that appeared even before the first dinosaurs walked the earth.

What do you think of the damage we do to our heritage? Do you think there is a way to stop it and make people cherish our treasures?