Tachyony: Created page with "{{short description|Essay about the preservation of knowledge}} {{Essay|WP:TIAD|WP:YESDEADLINE}} {{Nutshell|The preservation or survivability of the world's knowledge is at stake. Contribute it to Wikipedia before it's too late.}} {{see also|Wikipedia:There is no deadline|Wikipedia:The deadline is now}} The lost [[Library of Alexandria, only one of many destroyed libraries in antiquity, lost long before Wikisource had..."

2022-01-29T07:37:52Z

Created page with "{{short description|Essay about the preservation of knowledge}} {{Essay|WP:TIAD|WP:YESDEADLINE}} {{Nutshell|The preservation or survivability of the world's knowledge is at stake. Contribute it to Wikipedia before it's too late.}} {{see also|Wikipedia:There is no deadline|Wikipedia:The deadline is now}} thumb|upright|The lost [[Library of Alexandria, only one of many destroyed libraries in antiquity, lost long before Wikisource had..."

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{{short description|Essay about the preservation of knowledge}}
{{Essay|WP:TIAD|WP:YESDEADLINE}}
{{Nutshell|The preservation or survivability of the world's knowledge is at stake. Contribute it to Wikipedia before it's too late.}}
{{see also|Wikipedia:There is no deadline|Wikipedia:The deadline is now}}
[[File:Ancientlibraryalex.jpg|thumb|upright|The lost [[Library of Alexandria]], only one of many [[destroyed libraries]] in antiquity, lost long before [[Wikisource]] had a chance to save their contents]]

Practically every day, distinct forms of [[knowledge]] are lost forever and no copies are available. When a [[natural disaster]] hits a region or a [[List of ongoing military conflicts|war breaks out]], [[libraries]], [[archives]], [[museums]], [[monuments]] and other artifacts of heritage, valuable buildings, [[incunable|incunabula]] and unique objects are destroyed or face the threat of destruction. These events usually remove pieces of human knowledge and sometimes entire cultures.

== Historical instances ==
There are plenty of examples of permanent loss of knowledge before Wikipedia's existence. The following is a non-exhaustive list.<ref name="unesco20century">[http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mdm/administ/pdf/LOSTMEMO.PDF Lost Memory — Libraries and Archives Destroyed in the Twentieth Century] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/69rt7I98e?url=http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mdm/administ/pdf/LOSTMEMO.PDF |date=August 12, 2012 }})</ref>

=== Before 20th century ===
[[File:Birmingham Central Library fire jan1879.jpg|thumb|[[Birmingham Central Library]] fire aftermath, 1879]]
* The Libraries of [[Library of Alexandria|Alexandria]], [[House of Wisdom]] and [[Imperial Library of Constantinople|Constantinople]] are among many [[List of libraries in the ancient world|great libraries of the ancient world]] to have been destroyed. As well, many ancient [[Chinese encyclopedias]] are partially or completely lost to history.
* The medieval archives of [[Gozo]] were destroyed during the Ottoman [[Invasion of Gozo (1551)|invasion of 1551]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Grima|first1=Noel|title=Notarial Archives discovery: Documents from Gozo dating to 1431 saved from the bin|url=http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2015-05-23/local-news/Documents-from-Gozo-dating-to-1431-saved-from-the-bin-6736135676|work=[[The Malta Independent]]|date=23 May 2015|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20150811131140/http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2015-05-23/local-news/Documents-from-Gozo-dating-to-1431-saved-from-the-bin-6736135676|archivedate=11 August 2015}}</ref>
* [[Diego de Landa#Inquisition|Diego de Landa's burning of the Maya codices]] in 1562. Only four are known to have survived. Most knowledge of Maya history is thus lost.
* The ''[[Beeldenstorm]]'' that spread through the [[Low countries]] in 1566 in which many statues and religious artifacts of the [[Catholic Church]] were destroyed by [[Iconoclasm|iconoclasts]].
* A fire destroyed more than 500 paintings located in [[Royal Alcázar of Madrid]] on Christmas Eve 1734. Other works, such as ''[[Las Meninas]]'' by Velázquez, were saved.
* The [[1836 U.S. Patent Office fire]] irretrievably destroyed most of the U.S. patent documents collected up to that time.
* A fire in the [[Birmingham Central Library]] in 1879 caused extensive damage with only 1,000 volumes saved from a stock of 50,000.<ref>{{Citation | last = | first =| authorlink = | title =Notes on the history of Birmingham Public Libraries (1861-1961)|edition= | publisher = Birmingham | year =1962 | location = | page = | isbn = }}</ref>

=== 20th century ===
* Churches, monasteries, [[convents burning|convents]] and libraries were destroyed during the [[Spanish Civil War]].<ref>{{in lang|es}} [http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/fichero_articulo?codigo=2544098&orden=0 El martirio de los libros: una aproximación a la destrucción bibliográfica durante la Guerra Civil] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/621F4RVjl?url=http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/fichero_articulo?codigo%3D2544098%26orden%3D0 |date=September 27, 2011 }})</ref>
* Most of the [[1890 United States Census]] materials were destroyed in a fire in the basement of the Commerce Building in Washington, D.C. in 1921.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/history/www/genealogy/decennial_census_records/availability_of_1890_census.html|title=Availability of 1890 Census - History - U.S. Census Bureau|last=US Census Bureau, Census History Staff|first=|date=|website=Census.gov|access-date=2017-10-24}}</ref>
* A [[1937 Fox vault fire|storage vault fire in 1937]] destroyed all the original negatives of [[Fox Film Corporation]]'s pre-1935 movies.<ref>"[http://books.google.com/books?id=5w0r8YKan04C&pg=PA339 $45,000 Fire Drives Families From Homes in Little Ferry]", ''[[Bergen Evening Record]]'', July 9, 1937, p. 1. Quoted by Richard Koszarski in ''Fort Lee: The Film Town'', Indiana University Press, 2005, pp. 339–341. {{ISBN|978-0-86196-652-3}}.</ref> Furthermore, the vast majority of the [[silent film]]s produced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries are considered [[Lost film|lost]]. According to a September 2013 report published by the United States [[Library of Congress]], some 70 per cent of American silent feature films fall into this category.<ref name=loc>{{cite press release |date=December 4, 2013 |title=Library Reports on America's Endangered Silent-Film Heritage |url=https://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2013/13-209.html |work=News from the Library of Congress |publisher=Library of Congress |issn=0731-3527 |access-date=March 7, 2014}}</ref>
* [[List of libraries damaged during the World War II|Hundreds of libraries and archives were destroyed]] and their contents lost during [[World War II]].<ref name="unesco20century" /><ref>[http://www.kakarigi.net/manu/preced.htm It Has Been Done Before! Reconstituting War-Ravaged Libraries] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/621GMI8wp?url=http://www.kakarigi.net/manu/preced.htm |date=September 27, 2011 }})</ref><ref>[[Aftermath of the Warsaw Uprising]], [[Planned destruction of Warsaw]] and [[Polish culture during World War II]]</ref>
* A fire in the [[National Library of Peru]] destroyed highly valued historical works in 1943.<ref>{{youtube|id=7d1_XtHDLsM|title=Carlos Aguirre: El incendio de la Biblioteca Nacional del Perú de 1943}}</ref>
* More than 6,000 [[Tibet]]an monasteries were destroyed during the [[Cultural Revolution]], along with unique statues, tapestries and manuscripts.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7307495.stm Tibetan monks: A controlled life] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/61tZjAwvY?url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7307495.stm |date=September 22, 2011 }})</ref>
* The [[National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] was shelled and burnt to the ground, along with thousands of irreplaceable texts, in the [[Siege of Sarajevo]] in 1992 during the [[Bosnian War]].<ref name="erasingthepast">[http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Bulletin/bosnia.htm Erasing the Past: The Destruction of Libraries and Archives in Bosnia-Herzegovina] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/61KfgmFdY |date=August 30, 2011 }})</ref>
* Some of the original Apollo 11 [[moon landing]] tapes in high quality have been recorded over and lost.<ref name="moon landing tapes erased">[http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jul/16/moon-landing-tapes-erased Original moon walk footage erased]</ref> But all the data was copied as archived in several locations at the time.<ref>[https://www.nasa.gov/feature/not-unsolved-mysteries-the-lost-apollo-11-tapes Not-Unsolved Mysteries: The “Lost” Apollo 11 Tapes]</ref>
* In June 1981, during the [[Sri Lankan Civil War]], the [[Jaffna Public Library]] was [[Burning of Jaffna library|burnt]] by [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]] [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] mobs, destroying over 97,000 rare books and manuscripts in the process.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://swarajyama.com/world/remembering-the-jaffna-public-library-destroyed-by-sinhalese-extremists|title=Remembering The Jaffna Public Library Destroyed By Sinhalese Extremists |work=[[Swarajya (magazine)|Swarajya]]|date=June 1, 2016}}</ref>
* During the [[Romanian Revolution of 1989]], a fire was started in the [[Central University Library of Bucharest]] and over 500,000 books, along with 3,700 manuscripts, were burnt.<ref name = "BCU">[http://www.bcub.ro/home/istoric The Central University Library of Bucharest], official site: "the History".</ref>
* In 1991 various statues of great historic value, especially those of women like [[Nurkhon]], were removed across Uzbekistan.

== Modern examples ==
Unfortunately, the destruction of knowledge has not ceased with Wikipedia's inception in 2001. Here are a few examples.

=== 2000s ===
[[File:Anna amalia bibliothek weimar brandschaden 03092004 nachmittag.jpg|thumb|Damage in [[Duchess Anna Amalia Library]] after the fire]]
* In 2003, the [[Iraq National Library and Archive]] and other buildings were looted and burnt during the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|U.S. invasion]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bl.uk/iraqdiary/cilippics.html|title=Photos of the Iraq National Library 2003–08|publisher=|accessdate=2012-07-05|archiveurl=http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20100427132359/http://www.bl.uk/iraqdiary/cilippics.html|archivedate=2010-04-27|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* In 2004, part of the collection at the [[Duchess Anna Amalia Library]] in Germany was lost to a fire, less than two months before the collection was to be moved.<ref>{{in lang|de}} [http://www.anna-amalia-bibliothek.de/de/afterbrand.html Hilfe für Anna Amalia] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/61tW7bdeY?url=http://www.anna-amalia-bibliothek.de/de/afterbrand.html |date=September 22, 2011 }})</ref>
* The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake [[Library damage resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake|damaged or destroyed]] libraries and archives in several countries.
* In 2009, the Historical Archive building of the City of Cologne [[Historical Archive of the City of Cologne#Collapse of the archive in 2009|collapsed]].<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,611311,00.html Archive Collapse Disaster for Historians] - Spiegel Online International ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/61tYsBQ6C?url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0%2C1518%2C611311%2C00.html |date=September 22, 2011 }})</ref>
* On October 26, 2009, [[GeoCities]] was shut down, removing from public view 38 million pages built by users over 15 years.<ref>{{cite web|last=Shechmeister |first=Matthew |url=http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2009/11/geocities |title=Ghost Pages: A Wired.com Farewell to GeoCities |website=Wired.com |date=2009-11-03 |accessdate=2012-02-20}}</ref> It was only partially preserved by [[Archive Team]].

=== 2010s ===
[[File:Nuestra Sra. de la Luz Parish Church, Loon, Bohol (Before and After 2013 Bohol Earthquake).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Loon Church]], [[Philippines]], before and after the [[2013 Bohol earthquake]]]]
* In 2010, much of Haiti's heritage was damaged or destroyed in an [[2010 Haiti earthquake|earthquake]].<ref>[http://haiti.si.edu/ Haiti Cultural Recovery Project] ({{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://haiti.si.edu/ |date=* }})</ref> Little over a month later, Chile's heritage suffered similar destruction in [[2010 Chile earthquake|its own earthquake]].
* The [[Egyptian Museum]] was looted during the [[2011 Egyptian revolution]].<ref>[http://hyperallergic.com/17815/egyptian-museum-damage/ Breaking: Images of Egyptian Museum Damage -UPDATE 34- King Tut Objects Damaged?] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/61t6Cdq22?url=http://hyperallergic.com/17815/egyptian-museum-damage/ |date=September 22, 2011 }})</ref>
* In December 2011, a fire destroyed all but 30,000 of the 200,000 books in the historic [[Egyptian Scientific Institute]].<ref>[http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/554351 Amid army crackdown, Egypt’s richest library set on fire] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/640PiklSv?url=http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/554351 |date=December 17, 2011 }})</ref><ref>[http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/incendio/durante/disturbios/Cairo/destruye/original/Descripcion/Egipto/encargada/Napoleon/elpepucul/20111218elpepucul_1/Tes Un incendio durante los disturbios de El Cairo destruye el original de la 'Descripción de Egipto' encargada por Napoleón] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/642zGlJsP?url=http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/incendio/durante/disturbios/Cairo/destruye/original/Descripcion/Egipto/encargada/Napoleon/elpepucul/20111218elpepucul_1/Tes |date=December 19, 2011 }})</ref>
* In May 2012, shrines forming part of the [[Timbuktu#World Heritage Site|Timbuktu]] [[World Heritage Site]] were destroyed by the Islamist group [[Ansar Dine]].<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18675539 Timbuktu's Sidi Yahia mosque 'attacked by Mali militants'] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/68x7PsErt?url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18675539 |date=July 6, 2012 }})</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18665522 Islamists vow to smash every mausoleum in Timbuktu] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/68x7VGUF2?url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18665522 |date=July 6, 2012 }})</ref>
* Some buildings and churches were damaged in the [[2012 Northern Italy earthquakes]].
* In June 2012, many documents were burned during a fire at the secretarial building of Mumbai.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3554517.ece Towering inferno engulfs Mumbai’s seat of power] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/68x7Y97Sw?url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3554517.ece |date=July 6, 2012 }})</ref><ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/9346940/Mumbai-government-building-engulfed-in-fire.html Mumbai government building engulfed in fire] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/68x7d6jvG?url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/9346940/Mumbai-government-building-engulfed-in-fire.html |date=July 6, 2012 }})</ref>
* [[List of heritage damaged during the Syrian Civil War|Syrian heritage has been damaged]], destroyed and looted during the [[Syrian Civil War]].<ref>[http://ghn.globalheritagefund.com/uploads/documents/document_2107.pdf Damage to the soul: Syria's cultural heritage in conflict] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/69rQsEW5k?url=http://ghn.globalheritagefund.com/uploads/documents/document_2107.pdf |date=August 12, 2012 }})</ref>
* On October 15, 2013, the [[2013 Bohol earthquake|Bohol earthquake]] destroyed and damaged several iconic sites.<ref name="Rappler 1">{{cite news|url=http://www.rappler.com/nation/41381-ten-churches-damaged-cebu-bohol-quake|title=Heartbreaking: 10 iconic churches in Bohol, Cebu damaged|work=[[Rappler]]|date=October 15, 2013|accessdate=October 15, 2013|author=Pia Ranada}}</ref>
* On December 25, 2013, the [[Santuario da Virxe da Barca]] was destroyed by a fire resulting from lightning.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.elmundo.es/espana/2013/12/25/52babbf4268e3e88648b458d.html | title=Un rayo destruye un emblemático santuario en Muxía | date=2013-12-25 | accessdate=2013-12-25 | archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6M85Kl1qV | archivedate=2013-12-25 | url-status=live| newspaper=El Mundo}}</ref>
* The [[Al Sa’eh Library]] in [[Tripoli, Lebanon]], with 80,000 books and manuscripts, was burnt down in January 2014.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://stateofmind13.com/2014/01/04/lebanon-loses-78000-books-to-terrorism-tripolis-infamous-al-saeh-library-burned/|title=Lebanon Loses 78000 Books To Terrorism: Tripoli’s “Al Sa’eh” Library Burned|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6MOmpHzK5|archivedate=2014-01-05|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Euromaidan]] protestors [[List of heritage damaged during Euromaidan|damaged or destroyed]] dozens of [[Vladimir Lenin]] statues across Ukraine.<ref>{{cite|title=Ленінопад: від комуністичного вождя звільнено вже 90 міст України|url=http://expres.ua/digest/2014/02/24/102431-leninopad-komunistychnogo-vozhdya-zvilneno-vzhe-90-mist-ukrayiny|publisher=Expres|date=2014-02-24|access-date=2015-04-21}}</ref>
* [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] (ISIL) damaged [[Mosul Museum]] artifacts, [[Mosul Public Library]] books and other [[Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL|cultural heritage]] sites like the ancient temples of [[Temple of Baalshamin|Baalshamin]] and [[Temple of Bel|Bel]].<ref>{{cite news|title=ISIS thugs take a hammer to civilisation: Priceless 3,000-year-old artworks smashed to pieces in minutes as militants destroy Mosul museum|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2970270/Islamic-State-fighters-destroy-antiquities-Iraq-video.html|newspaper=Daily Mail|accessdate=26 February 2015}}</ref>
* The April 25, 2015, [[2015 Nepal earthquake|Nepal earthquake]] damaged and destroyed centuries-old buildings in the UNESCO World Heritage sites in the [[Kathmandu Valley]], including some at [[Kathmandu Durbar Square]].<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32463406|title = Nepal landmarks flattened by the quake|last = |first = |date = |work = |access-date = April 25, 2015|via = }}</ref>
* On April 30, 2015, all the content of [[Google Answers|Google Ejabat]], Google Answers' edition for the Arab world, was erased.{{Fact}}
* On April 26, 2016, [[National Museum of Natural History, New Delhi]] and its entire collection were destroyed by fire.<ref name="fire_guts">{{cite news|author=Vidhi Doshi|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/26/massive-fire-guts-delhis-natural-history-museum |title=Fire guts Delhi's natural history museum |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2016-04-26 |accessdate=2016-04-26}}</ref>
* A museum dedicated to [[Nicola Filotesio]] stood in the town of his birth until it was destroyed in the [[August 2016 Central Italy earthquake]].<ref name="larepubblica1">La Repubblica, ''[http://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2016/08/24/news/terremoto_nel_centro_italia_i_danni_al_patrimonio_artistico-146561797/ Terremoto nel centro Italia, i danni al patrimonio artistico]''</ref>
* [[National Museum of Brazil fire|A fire]] burned down the [[National Museum (Brazil)|National Museum of Brazil]] on September 2, 2018, destroying more than 90 percent of its collection of more than 20{{nbsp}}million objects.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-45392668|title=Brazil's 200-year-old national museum hit by huge fire|date=2018-09-03|accessdate=2018-09-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://es.gizmodo.com/los-meteoritos-sobreviven-al-incendio-que-ha-devastado-1828785646|title=Los meteoritos sobreviven al incendio que ha devastado siglos de historia en Río de Janeiro}}</ref> Many holdings, such as records of [[extinct languages]], were one-of-a-kind and irreplaceably lost.<ref name="BrazilLanguages">{{cite news |last1=McCulloch |first1=Gretchen |title=Linguistics Division |url=https://allthingslinguistic.com/post/177712815507/folks-theres-nothing-left-from-the-linguistics |accessdate=23 April 2020 |work=All Things Linguistic}}</ref>
* In March 2019, [[Myspace]] announced that it had lost all music uploaded between 2003 and 2015.<ref name="Myspace">{{cite news |last1=Tiffany |first1=Kaitlyn |title=Myspace, which still exists, accidentally deleted 12 years’ worth of music |url=https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/3/18/18271088/myspace-music-deleted-internet-archive-flickr-tumblr |accessdate=19 June 2019 |work=[[Vox]] |date=March 18, 2019}}</ref>

=== 2020s ===
* In January 2020, a fire damaged or destroyed much of the collection of New York City's [[Museum of Chinese in America]]. Around 35,000 of the 85,000 items had been digitized and backed up before the fire.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/fire-likely-destroyed-85000-relics-held-museum-chinese-america-180974061/|title=Fire at Museum of Chinese in America Caused Less Damage Than Initially Feared|last=Katz|first=Brigit|website=Smithsonian Magazine|access-date=2020-02-01}}</ref>
* In April 2021, the Cape Town Library of Library of African Antiquities was damaged by a wildfire.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wroughton |first1=Lesley |title=South Africa wildfire that burned University of Cape Town, library of African antiquities is under control |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/04/18/south-africa-fire-university-cape-town/ |access-date=20 April 2021 |work=Washington Post}}</ref>
* On July 29, 2021, the [[Cinemateca Brasileira]] was hit by a fire,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.uol.com.br/splash/noticias/2021/07/29/incendio-cinemateca-brasileira-sao-paulo.htm|title=Incêndio atinge unidade da Cinemateca Brasileira na Zona Oeste de SP |date=2021-07-29|accessdate=2021-07-29|language=pt-br}}</ref> the fifth in its history.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.uol.com.br/splash/noticias/2021/07/29/historia-da-tv-e-do-cinema-queima-junto-com-o-quinto-incendio-da-cinemateca.htm|title= História da TV e do cinema queima junto com o quinto incêndio da Cinemateca |date=2021-07-29|accessdate=2021-07-29|language=pt-br}}</ref>

==Future threats==
[[File:Geolocated images in Wikimedia Commons 2016-04-16.png|thumb|The current coverage of [[Wikimedia Commons]] is imbalanced (5.2M geolocated images in the map). We must preserve the current world to the future generations. Imagine a project like [[Geograph Britain and Ireland]]<ref>[http://www.geograph.org.uk The Geograph Britain and Ireland project] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/68xCg8x8m?url=http://www.geograph.org.uk/ |date=July 6, 2012 }})</ref> but globally.]]

Today, many of the world's [[List of languages|languages]] are [[Endangered language|endangered]] or nearly [[Extinct language|extinct]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/about/|title=The Endangered Languages Project|last=|first=|date=|website=EndangeredLanguages.com|access-date=2019-01-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/endangered-languages|title=Endangered Languages - Ethnologue|last=|first=|date=|website=Ethnologue.com|access-date=2019-01-16}}</ref> In some cases where parents have stopped teaching an endangered language to their children, the language is understood by [[List of last known speakers of languages|only a few elderly speakers]]. The [[Rosetta Project]] is a global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers working to build a publicly accessible digital library of material on the nearly 7,000 known human languages.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject The Rosetta Project items] from The Long Now Foundation</ref>

Furthermore, hundreds of websites are closed every day on the [[Internet]]; the average life of a web page is only 77 days.<ref>[http://www.archive.org/about/faqs.php Internet Archive Frequently Asked Questions] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/629ouhKYT?url=http://www.archive.org/about/faqs.php |date=October 3, 2011 }})</ref> Those websites work in many cases as [[references]]. Projects like the [[Internet Archive]] or [[WebCitation]] and volunteer groups like [[Archive Team]]<ref>[http://archiveteam.org Archive Team] website ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/629owKO0B?url=http://archiveteam.org/index.php?title%3DMain_Page |date=October 3, 2011 }})</ref> save copies of some of them, but many others [[Digital preservation|are lost forever]]. This issue may affect Wikimedia projects too, and [[meta:Mirroring Wikimedia project XML dumps|mirrors]] are needed to assure long-term preservation of the data.

Wikipedia and its sister projects can—and must—save all these forms of knowledge, through creating articles, uploading images and recordings to [[Wikimedia Commons]], preserving languages in [[Wiktionary]] and transcribing books into [[Wikisource]]. Events like [[commons:Wiki Loves Monuments|Wiki Loves Monuments]] may help to immortalize monuments around the world before they are damaged or destroyed.<ref>[http://www.wikilovesmonuments.eu/ Wiki Loves Monuments 2011] - European website ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/628dCbErx?url=http://www.wikilovesmonuments.eu/ |date=October 2, 2011 }})</ref>

'''There ''is'' a deadline. This is a battle against time.'''

{{clear}}

== Gallery ==

<gallery mode=packed-hover class="center" heights=150px>
File:Alcazar de Madrid siglo XVII.jpg | [[Royal Alcazar of Madrid]] was consumed by fire in 1734. More than 500 paintings were lost.
File:NewYorkSocietyForTheSuppressionOfVice.jpg | Symbol of [[New York Society for the Suppression of Vice]], advocating book-burning
File:1933-may-10-berlin-book-burning.JPG | [[Nazi book burnings|Book burning]] in Berlin, May 1933
File:Quema de libros.jpg | Burning left-wing books during the early days of the [[Pinochet military regime]]
File:Evstafiev-bosnia-cello.jpg | A cello player in the destroyed [[National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina|National Library]], Sarajevo
File:Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Earthquake in Chile.jpg | The damaged [[Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Santiago, Chile)|Museum of Contemporary Art]] in Chile
File:Bufo periglenes2.jpg | [[Golden toad]] (''Bufo periglenes''), now extinct
File:Brand Anna Amalia 22.30Uhr.JPG | [[Library fires|Library fire]] at the [[Duchess Anna Amalia Library|Anna Amalia library]], 2004
File:The destroyed sixstory cologne city archive.jpg | Collapsed [[Historical Archive of the City of Cologne]], March 2009
File:Chiesa di San Paolo - Mirabello - Province of Ferrara - 2012 Northern Italy earthquake - (1).jpg | [[Church of Saint Paul in Mirabello]], Ferrara
File:Al Munisìpi ad Sant Agustèn.jpg | The [[town hall]] of [[Sant'Agostino, Emilia–Romagna|Sant'Agostino]]
File:15346 Purila mõis.jpg | Mural painting in the [[Purila Manor]], [[Estonia]], almost erased by age
File:Agassiz in the Concrete.jpg | Fallen statue of zoologist [[Louis Agassiz]] after the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]]
File:Aleppo-Great-mosque-Alp.jpg | The [[Great Mosque of Aleppo]] was damaged in fighting in 2013
|Destruction of the [[destruction of the monument to Lenin in Kiev|statue of Lenin in Kiev]].
File:2018-01-09-Abriss St. Lambertus (Immerath)-6148.jpg | Demolition of the [[Church of St. Lambertus, Immerath]] (2018) to make room for a surface mine
File:Fire at Museu Nacional 05.jpg | [[National Museum of Brazil fire|Fire]] at the [[National Museum of Brazil]]
File:Incendie Notre Dame de Paris.jpg | [[Notre-Dame de Paris fire]]
</gallery>

==See also==
{{multiple image
| direction = vertical
| width = 300
| header = ''El Vaporcito'', a famous ship in [[Andalusia]] and ''[[Bien de Interés Cultural|Property of Cultural Interest]]'' in Spain, sunk in 2011.
| image1 = Vaporcito de El Puerto.jpg
| alt1 = A small white ferry carrying passengers in the mouth of the Guadalete river
| caption1 = In 2007...
| image2 = Vaporcito de El Puerto (37404662665).jpg
| alt2 = The same ferry, as a dilapidated shell, sitting on a boatramp
| caption2 = ...and in 2017.
}}

===Articles===
* [[Art destruction]]
* [[Digital dark age]]
* [[Digital preservation]]
* [[Book burning]] and [[List of book burning incidents]]
* [[Impermanence]]
* [[List of destroyed libraries]]
* [[List of destroyed heritage]]
* [[Lost work]], [[Lost artworks]] and [[List of lost films]]
* [[Rosetta Stone]]

===Documentaries===
* ''Biblioteca en guerra'' (2009, Blanca Calvo & Ramón Salaberria)
* ''Cicatrices de Sarajevo'' (2012, Miguel Ángel Viñas)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdZxI3nFVJs Digital Amnesia]'' (2014, Bregtje van der Haak)
* ''[[User:Emijrp/Digital Dark Age (film)|Digital dark age: help, we're disappearing!]]'' (2004, Jörg Daniel Hissen & Peter Moers)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec_-fgy3EGY Internet Archive]'' (2012, Jonathan Minard)
* ''Las cajas españolas'' (2004, Alberto Porlan)
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TEgrdAlofk Lost Forever]'' (2011, Paul Mariano & Kurt Norton)
* ''Metrópolis refundada'' (2010, Evangelina Loguercio)
* ''Rescatando sombras. Cine, muerte y memoria'' (2012, Franco Lorenzana)
* ''The Destruction of Memory'' (2016, Tim Slade)
* ''The End of Memory?'' (2015, Vincent Amouroux)
* ''The House of History'' (1996, Quadir Taheri)

===Essays===
* [[User:Emijrp/All Human Knowledge]] (userbox {{tl|User preserve all human knowledge}})
* [[Wikipedia:There is no deadline]]
* [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia is a work in progress]]
* [[Wikipedia:Build content to endure]]

===Projects===
* [[Internet Archive]]
* [[Long Now Foundation]] and [[Rosetta Project]]
* [[Memory of Mankind]]
* [[meta:Wikipedia to the Moon]]
* [[Arch Mission Foundation]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Báez, Fernando (2004). ''Historia universal de la destrucción de libros. De las tablillas sumerias a la Guerra de Irak''. ISBN 9788423335961
* UNESCO (1996). [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mdm/administ/pdf/LOSTMEMO.PDF Lost Memory - Libraries and archives destroyed in the twentieth century] ({{webarchive |url=http://www.webcitation.org/69rt7I98e?url=http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mdm/administ/pdf/LOSTMEMO.PDF |date=August 12, 2012 }})
* Vines, Timothy et al. (2013). [http://arxiv.org/abs/1312.5670 The availability of research data declines rapidly with article age]. {{DOI|10.1016/j.cub.2013.11.014}}

== External links ==
* Translations for this essay ([http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:There_is_a_deadline&oldid=459294502 permalink] to original version) are more than welcome: [http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Kurier&oldid=95468817 German] ([http://www.webcitation.org/63ZvB1NVn webcite]), [http://blog.wikimedia.fr/il-y-a-urgence-3810 French] ([http://www.webcitation.org/63ZuwGg5b webcite]), [http://emijrp.blogspot.com/2011/12/una-batalla-contra-el-tiempo.html Spanish], [https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipédia:Há_uma_data_final Portuguese], [https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viquip%C3%A8dia:Hi_ha_una_data_l%C3%ADmit Catalan], [https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Lotta_contro_il_tempo Italian], [https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Er_is_een_deadline Nederlands], [https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Exist%C4%83_un_termen_limit%C4%83 Romanian], [https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Det_finns_en_deadline Swedish],
* [http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org/things-get-lost-capture-them/ Things get lost. Capture them] (Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 blog post by Elke)
* [http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org/photos-of-destroyed-heritage/ Photos of destroyed heritage] (Wiki Loves Monuments 2013 blog post) ([http://wlm.org.ua/vtrachene-nepovtorne Ukrainian version])
* [https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/12/04/joel-aldor-preserve-filipino-architecture/ Joel Aldor wants to preserve historic Filipino architecture one photo at a time] (Wikimedia Blog, 2014)
* [https://www.wikilovesmonuments.org/2015-earthquake-in-nepal-a-wake-up-call-for-monument-documentation/ 2015 Earthquake in Nepal: A Wake-up Call for Monument Documentation] (Wiki Loves Monuments blog post, 2018)
* [http://laughingsquid.com/archive-corps-a-volunteer-collective-to-help-quickly-save-physical-archives-before-they-are-lost/ Archive Corps, A Volunteer Collective To Help Quickly Save Physical Archives Before They Are Lost] (see also [[Archive Team]])
* [https://github.com/WikiTeam/wikiteam WikiTeam] – Volunteers group to preserve wikis
* [http://tools.wmflabs.org/wmcounter/ Wikimedia projects edits counter] – Total edits in Wikimedia projects (near real time)

{{Wikipedia essays|building}}

[[Category:Wikipedia essays about building the encyclopedia]]

Wikipedia:There is a deadline - Revision history