What would the Egyptians be without their pyramids and temples and the artistic decorations that surrounded their daily lives ? What would the Greeks be without Athens and the Acropolis ? What would the Romans be without their mighty buildings and engineering works ? What would the German emperors of the middles ages be without their cathedrals and their imperial palaces ? And what would the Middle Ages themselves be without their town halls and guild halls, or religion be without its churches ? That there was once such a people as the Mayas we should not know at all, or else be unconcerned about them, had they not left for the admiration of our time those mighty ruins of cities that bear witness to the extraordinary epic qualities of that people, such ruins as have arrested the attention of the modern world and are still a fascinating object of study for our scholars.
A people cannot live longer than the works which are the testimony of its culture.
* National- Socialist Party Congress, 1936
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