Burning of the Old Summer Palace
- When
- 18 October 1860 (order given; destruction 18–19 October by Western reckoning)
- Where
- Old Summer Palace
Lord Elgin ordered the destruction of the Old Summer Palace in retaliation for the torture and execution of prisoners, causing incalculable cultural loss.
On 18 October 1860, Lord Elgin ordered the complete destruction of the Old Summer Palace outside Beijing. This was in retaliation for the torture and execution of almost twenty European and Indian prisoners, including two British envoys and The Times journalist Thomas Bowlby. The palace, an architectural wonder with immeasurable collections of artworks and historic antiques, suffered incalculable loss of cultural heritage.
Sources
- James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-03
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.