Why it matters
Bruegel's smaller Tower of Babel shows the doomed attempt to build a tower reaching heaven. Its arches recall the Colosseum in Rome, then seen as a symbol of the persecution of Christians.
Did you know?
- The story comes from Genesis 11.
- In Bruegel's time the subject symbolised human arrogance.
- It is in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.
Based on the Dutch Wikipedia article De Toren van Babel (klein) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
