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Today marks the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the US. In an interesting bit of kismet, today landed your intrepid traveler in Basel, Switzerland. Basel was one of the sights of major fighting during the Protestant Reformation . In essence, it was ground zero for a major shift in the way Western Europe practiced religion.

Going through old churches here is sobering. As part of the break with the Catholic Church, old churches and cathedrals were literally gutted. All the painting on the inside of these buildings was whitewashed over. One old church is now the site of a museum. Another is still in use by the Anglicans. There has been some minor restoration of the historical paintings which were covered. Not much, but enough to see the scope of the damage.


You can also see where folks hacked off pieces of statues to eliminate faces.

In place of the statues and paintings of the Catholics, you got plain text quotes.


It’s a significant difference when you compare this church to its equivalent in Italy.


I’m reminded that those who don’t learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it.