AFGHANISTAN: Bamiyan
The `Bamiyan Buddhas` were two 1800 year-old statues of standing Buddhas
carved in a cliff-face in the Bamiyan Valley in north-west Afghanistan. In
2001 they were blown up by Taliban vandals but the site retains considerable
interest on account of Buddhist frescoes dated to around 650AD and thought
to be the earliest examples of oil used in art history. But the focus was
always on the standing Buddha 55 and 37 metres in height likely carved by
the Indo-European ancestors of Afghanistan`s ethnic Hazaras, whose facial
features resemble the cave paintings. Over the centuries, Muslim invaders
tried to destroy the giant Buddhas with cannon fire pockmarked the stone,
they survived in relatively good order certain to become a major Buddhist
pilgrimage centre of extended interest to cultural tourists. Sadly this was
not to be and despite this potential source of income for poor rural workers
in the Bamiyan Valley Taliban clerics declared the statues heretical and
after standing there for some 1.500 years, they were blown to smithereens.
The Afghan government has commissioned Japanese artist Hiro Yamagata to
recreate the site using laser projections of images of the Buddhas onto the
cliffs but this and other restoration plans are on hold due to the
continuing Taliban offensive.