British Museum: Parthenon Marbles

What can survive repeated conquest?  On the Acropolis: 

• The sanctuary for Athena was destroyed by Persians in 480 BC
• The Parthenon was completed in 432 BC, a Doric temple and treasure store
• In the 5th century AD the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church
• In the early 1460s it was converted into an Islamic mosque, with a minaret 
• In 1687 a Venetian bomb exploded the Turkish ammunition store inside, causing destruction
• In 1806 an Englishman took some of the sculptures to England.

Perhaps Indonesia had more luck - the Portuguese, the Spanish, the English, the Dutch were interested in spices, not terrain.  Before them, other sailors and merchants came to trade: Chinese, Arab, Buddhist, Hindu.  And if later there were priests and dignitaries, their influence could be absorbed in a more gradual process.  That is, until the final period of colonial rule, as enlightened nations were building their empires.

The Thames has been flowing for thousands of years.  Today I watched it flow under Waterloo Bridge.  Waterloo: one of the last stands of Napoleon the Conqueror.  I made a drawing.