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Events on Thursday 15 April 1204 1
1204The sack -- a cultural catastropheThe three-day sack of Constantinople (13-15 April 1204) destroys a significant portion of the accumulated cultural wealth of a thousand-year civilisation. The imperial palace is looted; the Hippodrome's bronze statues are melted down; the great library (containing unique manuscripts of classical antiquity) is burned; the treasury of Hagia Sophia is stripped; relics from across the Christian world are stolen and distributed to western churches. The horses of San Marco in Venice -- four ancient bronze horses from the Hippodrome -- are among the most visible surviving trophies. Pope Innocent III writes: 'the purity of your deeds has surpassed that of the Saracens.'