UNFree Media: Haiti

When Axelle Liautaud, an art dealer, heard that demolition crews were already lined up to clear the site of Holy Trinity Cathedral, she blanched and scrambled to stop the work in hopes that bricks and shards of concrete containing portions of the murals could be pieced together again.

The murals featuring Haitian renderings of biblical scenes on its interior walls now resembled a jigsaw puzzle. The organ, which Haitians proudly say was one of the largest in the Caribbean, was flattened.

"We had so much despite the fact that we're so poor," Ms. Liautaud told the New York Times' Mark Lacey. "Nothing that's new can replace what's old. Gone in a day. It's all gone."

Many of Haitiu's symbols of its proud history lie in ruins. The National Palace, the National Cathedral, the Supreme Court -- all are in various states of collapse. Also devastated is the Episcopal Church's Holy Trinity Cathedral, known for its murals of Bible stories with all black figures.