When exploring ancient art in European museums, I’ve long been struck by a consistent feature of many classical sculptures: the heads of gods, emperors, and common people have often been defaced. Noses smashed off, chins broken, deep gouges in cheeks, crosses cut into foreheads. Curiously, these institutions have mostly been silent about why these sculptures are so disfigured.

But over the past few years, scholars and historians have begun exploring in more depth the rise of Christianity and the ensuing waves of destruction that swept through the collapsing Roman Empire. Their work has revealed that countless sculptures, structures, and works of literature were obliterated by Christian zealots intent on eliminating all traces of classical culture.

The images in this book of defaced sculptures—which I photographed in European art museums over the course of many years—bear witness to this destruction.