Heritage

Every period of history, from the Stone Age to modern times, has left its mark in the form of archaeological features, monuments or portable objects found across Afghanistan.

A list of key sites and monuments offers a glimpse of the range and richness of the built heritage that survives in all provinces. For a brief overview of the historical context of the Greek, Indian, Persian, Central Asian, Chinese, Arab and European influences on the cultural heritage, see the overview of Afghan history.

Perhaps the best-known site in Afghanistan is the Bamiyan valley, which received worldwide attention in 2001 when the two giant Buddha statues carved into the cliff in around 600 CE were badly damaged. As well as these massive figures, the valley is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a representation of cultural and religious developments over a period of 1,300 years. Also inscribed on the World Heritage list is the 12th-century Minaret of Jam in Ghor province. In recognition of the threats facing historic monuments in the country, the 2007 World Monuments Watch List included the 9th-century Masjid-e-Noh Gumbad in Balkh, as well as the old city of Herat, which was identified in 2009 as undergoing rapid, uncontrolled ‘redevelopment’.

One of the other major threats facing Afghanistan’s heritage is rapid urban growth and the associated process of ‘development’ that often results in the demolition of important historic fabric, as well as individual monuments. The absence of a coherent urban policy has resulted in ill-conceived plans and investments that risk irrevocable transformations being made on urban heritage that represent an important trace of the history of the country. Among the most dramatic transformations are taking place in the old city of Herat which, as a result of the failure of urban officials to halt illegal demolition and enforce development controls, is no longer being considered for the tentative UNESCO World Heritage List. A similar process of transformation is under way in the old city of Kabul, where recent road-widening by Kabul Municipality has driven a swathe through some important urban fabric.

The Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) for 2007/8-2012/3, 1387-1391, identifies as key issues the compilation of a cultural heritage inventory, halting illicit traffic of cultural property, development of legal and policy frameworks for the cultural heritage sector, the conservation of historic monuments, and the improvement of cultural services.

From its modest beginnings as a collection of objects of interest to the royal family, the National Museum was transformed by the artifacts obtained during excavations after the 1920s. Not only was there a considerable amount of material from the Kushan site at Hadda, but also the Greek site of Ai Khanoum, the Bronze Age site of Mundigak, the Buddhist site at Bamiyan, as well as Begram, Surkh Kotal, Paitava and Shotorak, all of which shed light on Afghanistan’s rich history. The reputation of the National Museum grew as material from the collection was exhibited abroad during the 1960s.

It was, however, not until 1978-1979 that an important horde of gold objects was excavated by a Soviet team at nomadic graves in Tilla Tepe, Jowzjan Province. On the eve of the Soviet invasion, this material was transported to the National Museum for cataloguing and storage. By this stage, the museum reportedly had more than 100,000 artefacts in its collection. With the unrest associated with the Saur revolution in April 1978, however, work was disrupted and the museum building was occupied by the Ministry of Defence, who occupied the wider Darulaman quarter. The collection was packed and transported into storage into the city centre until 1980.

Even after the return of the collection to Darulaman, the political instability had an impact on the operation of the museum. Despite the fact that all international archaeological teams forced to leave the country as the conflict spread, staff of the museum continued to work on cataloguing finds and creating new displays of finds from Ai Khanoum, Delbarjin wall paintings, and a Hindu Shahi marble Surya discovered in Kabul's Khairkhana district. In response to fears for its safety, the Tillya Tepe horde was transported in 1985 to the Koti Baghcha and only returned to Darulaman in 1988. In 1989, the museum was formally closed and the bulk of the collection dispersed to safer sites closer to the city, with the most valuable items stored in the vaults of the Central Bank.

With the abdication of Dr Najibullah in 1992, fighting soon broke out between the mujahideen factions who had occupied Kabul. Having been used since the 1970s by the Soviet-backed Ministry of Defence, the Darulaman Palace took on symbolic importance, and the adjoining National Museum stood perilously close to the front-lines between fighters of Hizbe Wahdat and Hizbe Islami. In May 1993 the building was set alight, destroying the roof and the most of the upstairs displays. This paved the way for Hazara fighters from Hizbe Wahdat to loot the premises at will, over a period of some weeks. Having been informed of this and negotiated access to inspect the site, UN staff made efforts to safeguard the surviving objects in the stores, while formally urging the leader of Hizbe Islami, Ustad Mazari, to restrain his fighters. This proved to be in vain, however, as the looting continued until there was very little of obvious worth that could be carried from the premises. After the fighting had abated, some of the surviving portable objects were transported by UN staff to the city centre, while steel doors were installed on the remaining stores and the ruined upper floor of the building was weatherproofed.

Following a decree issued in February 2001 by Mullah Omar to destroy figurative statues, on the grounds that they once served as idols for non-believers, the Bamiyan Buddhas were badly damaged by Taliban fighters. Not long after this, Taliban officials were sent to destroy statues from the collection, both in the National Museum and in the stores at the Ministry of Information and Culture. This resulted in serious damage to schist, plaster and wooden figures – although many objects were saved from destruction by museum staff, who had hidden them out of sight of the zealous Talibs assigned to this task.

Since 2002, a number of initiatives have been taken to reconstruct the physical fabric of the museum and to recover and conserve the surviving collection, mainly with support from Italy, France and Greece. By early 2007, inventories of eight collections and the preparation of a database had been completed, in parallel with three programmes of conservation, including some of the schist objects damaged by the Taliban. In addition, training was provided to museum staff in collections management, photography, IT and language. Since then, there have been a number of small exhibitions in the newly-restored premises, although only a tiny fraction of the collection has been displayed. Following the ‘rediscovery’ in the vaults of the Central Bank in 2006 of the Bactrian gold horde from Tillya Tepe, along with many other objects, these have been the focus of a travelling exhibition entitled Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul, which has already toured Europe and North America and will travel on to east Asia in 2012. In March 2011 the Embassy of the United States of America in Afghanistan and the Ministry of Information and Culture pledged funds for a new museum building with state of the art security, conservation and administrative space as well as exhibition space for the material shown in the travelling exhibition. Further US funds were pledged for training and capacity building for the National Museum staff.

Warwick Ball, The Monuments of Afghanistan. History, Archaeology and Architecture (London 2008).

Warwick Ball, Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan (Paris 1982).

Jolyon Leslie, Culture and Conflict in the Future of Afghanistan (Washington DC 2009).

Heather Bleaney and María Ángeles Gallego, 'Afghanistan: A Bibliography', in Handbook of Oriental Studies 13 (2006).