there's a great quote in the movie "Monuments Men" from George Clooney's character trying to inspire his men as they save all the stolen art from the Germans:

"You can wipe out an entire generation, you can burn their homes to the ground and somehow they'll still find their way back. But if you destroy their history, you destroy their achievements and it's as if they never existed. That's what Hitler wants and that's exactly what we are fighting for."

Art and museums are absolutely essential as far as I'm concerned.