There is an argument over whether it’s more desirable for a city to
maintain its old, historic buildings than rebuild new-fashioned buildings to
replace them with. Although some people do not disagree with the statement, I
firmly believe that preserving old, historic buildings is a much more important
alternative following two reasons. Most importantly, such historic buildings
give its own distinguishable quality to a city. In addition, they play a
significant role in reminding people of historically great feats.
First of all, old and historic buildings make an immense difference
which makes a city truly unique from other cities. As a world is getting
standardized, cities all around the world have become to look similar more than
ever. However, by preserving historic buildings, cities are still able to keep
their own characteristics despite a variety of apparent similarities between
cities. Opponents to this idea may argue that rebuilding new modern buildings
will also be able to make a distinguish difference as do old buildings. This
may seem true, but the reality is quite different. For example, in my country,
Korea, there are two extremely different cities. One is Gunpo and the other one
is KyungJoo. Even though Gunpo is much more well-developed and has more modern buildings
than KyungJoo, people in Korea are even more aware of KyungJoo than of Gunpo.
This is simply because people cannot distinguish Gunpo from the other normal
cities with modern infrastructures, while in KyungJoo, there remain lots of
historic buildings thanks to dedicated efforts to maintain them. Comparison between
two cities reveals that old and historic buildings in a city need to exist in
order to keep its distinction.
Moreover, old and historic buildings help people recall great feats
in the past. Without any such a building, people are likely to forget
significant things people earlier did. Opponents to this idea may insist that
the buildings don’t really contribute to helping remind of great events. This
may seem true, but in reality they exactly do. For example, Kwang-Hwa-Mun,
founded in Korea in 1945 as a symbol of an independence from Japan, is the
building where Seoul’s citizens visit once a while. I do remember what my
father told me when I was 12-year-old in front of the building. It was about
the great accomplishment that great people had done for roughly 30 years so as
to bring our country back from Japan. It was so much impressive that I still
keep in mind their feats every time I pass by it. This clearly shows that we
are responsible for maintaining old and historic buildings so that not only we
can remember the historically great events but also our descendants can learn
things from them.
In conclusion, I strongly believe that we all have a duty to
preserve old and historic buildings. That’s because they function as a distinct
characteristic of a city and as a reminder of great feat people did in the
past. |