- Title: Afghan museum recreates Buddhist history, one broken piece at a time
- Date: 14th October 2019
- Summary: HEAD OF A STATUE ON THE TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) AFGHAN CONSERVATOR, SHERAZUDDIN SAIFI, SAYING: "They (Taliban) came with a number of people and opened the door of the national museum (of Afghanistan) and they started breaking the antiques." SHERAZUDDIN'S HANDS WHILE MATCHING THE PIECES OF A STATUE VARIOUS OF STATUES DISPLAYED AT NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFGHANISTAN DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFGHANISTAN MOHAMMAD FAHIM RAHIMI WALKING AND SITTING FOR INTERVIEW MOHAMMAD FAHIM'S FACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFGHANISTAN, MOHAMMAD FAHIM RAHIMI, SAYING: "Restoration of our antiquities and our culture heritage, whether it is movable object in museums or immovable monuments and the sites we are having all around Afghanistan are very important for me and also for the all people of Afghanistan and even the world. It's because this is part of history." MOHAMMAD FAHIM'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFGHANISTAN, MOHAMMAD FAHIM RAHIMI, SAYING: "It's more than a thousand years that we had Buddhism in Afghanistan, but what's important about the heritage of Buddhism in Afghanistan is actually, it is artistic work and also how glorious the monuments and the sites which currently remain for us from that period, is actually showing a very very important part of that history." A SCHOOL TEACHER EXPLAINING THE HISTORY OF ANTIQUITIES TO SCHOOLBOYS AT NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFGHANISTAN HEAD OF A STATUE DISPLAYED AT NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFGHANISTAN SCHOOLBOYS LOOKING AT ANTIQUITIES (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) AFGHAN SCHOOLBOY, ABDUL WARES, SAYING: "It's very important for Afghans to come to the museum because we should find out about our past history, especially the history of our ancestors." VARIOUS OF STATUES DISPLAYED SIGN READING (Dari) "The National Museum of Afghanistan" EXTERIOR OF NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFGHANISTAN VARIOUS OF VEHICLES DRIVING ON STREET OF DARUL AMAN PALACE
- Embargoed: 28th October 2019 09:22
- Keywords: Afghanistan museum Buddhist history broken restored
- Location: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
- City: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
- Country: Afghanistan
- Topics: Art,Arts / Culture / Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA003B12HQVB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Like assembling a 1,500-year-old jigsaw puzzle, conservators at the National Museum of Afghanistan are restoring the country's Buddhist history that the Taliban tried to erase.
The militant Islamic group went on a cultural rampage in 2001, destroying artefacts from as long ago as the third century, when many Afghans practised Buddhism. The destruction included two towering Buddha statues in Bamyan province and scores of smaller ones that had been excavated from Buddhist monastery sites and preserved at the Kabul museum.
After the Taliban government fell the same year, the museum began restoring remnants of Afghanistan's Buddhist history. Its latest project, with U.S. support, aims to reassemble thousands of pieces into statues within the next three years.
Forty years of war, from the 1980s Soviet occupation to internal fighting and the war against the Taliban, have destroyed much of Afghanistan's art, artefacts and architecture. Warlords stole other pieces and sold them abroad.
In 2001, conservator Sherazuddin Saifi, 62, was working in the museum.
"They (Taliban) came with a number of people and opened the door of the national museum (of Afghanistan) and they started breaking the antiques," said Saifi, who still works at the museum.
Sometimes they work from archived photos that depict the statues intact. In other cases, 3-D imaging and imagination are required to sort and reassemble stucco shards of Buddha faces, hands and torsos.
(Production: Samargul Zwak / Aziz Mohammad / Hameed Farzad / Sayed Hassib) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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