" Of all these edifices a strange medley of architectural styles, now almost forgotten, daringly constructed in apparently inaccessible spots but a few ruins remained to bear witness alike to the power and the impotence of man. Within their walls deeds were perhaps done far worthier of repetition than all the stories which are written now; but time passed; the eyes which witnessed them are closed; the tradition of them died with the lapse of years, like a fire which is not fed; and when that is lost, who can read the secret of the ages? "

― Victor Hugo , Complete Works of Victor Hugo