Bamiyan Buddha Statues

Bamiyan Buddha Statues are two giant Buddha statues (55 and 37 meters) that were part of a complex of Buddhist monasteries in the Bamiyan Valley. In 2001, despite protests from the world community and other Islamic countries, the statues were destroyed by the Taliban, who believed that they were pagan idols and should be destroyed.

.

The statues were carved into the rocks surrounding the valley, partially augmented with sturdy plaster held on wooden fittings. The upper parts of the sculptures’ faces, made of wood, were lost in antiquity. In addition to the ruined sculptures, there is another one depicting a reclining Buddha in the monasteries of the valley, its excavation began in 2004.

. Contents

History of Bamiyan Valley

Bamiyan is one of the provinces of Afghanistan. Buddhism entered this province in the 3rd century BC, during the reign of Ashoka, an emperor from the Mauryan dynasty. At that time, the Bamiyan Valley was an important trade route that was part of the Great Silk Road. Merchants transporting goods across the mainland completely crossed Afghanistan. Along with them went Buddhist monks who preached their teachings. It is most likely that it was from Bamiyan that Buddhism spread to Japan, China, Korea, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and Mongolia. In this province Buddhism existed until the 9th century, the time of the adoption of Islam.

.

Bamiyan became a real center of Buddhism during the reign of Kanishka the Great. It was during this period that the first thirty-seven-meter statue of Buddha was created. Two centuries later, a second fifty-five-meter statue was created.

They were first covered with a mixture of clay and straw, which helped create the faces, hands, and folds of clothing. The statues were then plastered and painted: the smaller statue in blue and the larger statue in red. The hands and faces were gilded. The statues themselves and the territory where they were located were considered sacred to people practicing Buddhism. As time passed, the facial features on the statues smoothed out and the hands disappeared. There is an opinion that this was done on purpose so that the impression of these idols would not be so terrible.

.

The wars that have been fought in Afghanistan since 1980 have caused extensive damage to Bamiyan and the Buddhist monastery located in the province. Since 1994, the Taliban (Islamic fundamentalists) – have destroyed so many sculptures, images and other artifacts in Bamiyan. They justified their actions on the basis of the ban on statue sculpting and idolatry in Islam.

.

In the mid-1990s, the area near the 55-meter high Buddha was used as an armory. This was probably no accident: the Afghan opposition wanted to preserve the mystical idol, while Muslim groups perceived the Buddha as a false prophet. In 1997, the Taliban commander declared that as soon as the territory came under his control, he would destroy the Buddha statues. However, protests came from around the world, and the Taliban promised that they would protect the statues. The arms depot was moved to another location. But in the meantime, a disagreement arose between soldiers and officials as officials discovered that the statues had already been damaged.

.

Destruction of the statues

The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues came after Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar’s February 26, 2001 decree: “God is one and these statues are put up for worship, which is wrong. They should be destroyed so that they will not be an object of worship now or in the future.”

.

The statues were destroyed in several stages over several weeks, beginning on March 2, 2001.Initially, the statues were shelled with anti-aircraft guns and artillery. This caused serious damage but did not destroy them. On this occasion, Taliban Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal complained that the job of destruction was not as easy as one might think because the sculptures are carved into the rock. The Taliban later placed anti-tank mines at the bottom of the niche so that when the rock rubble fell from artillery fire, the statues would receive additional mine damage. Eventually, the Taliban lowered men down the rock and planted explosives in the holes in the statues. After one of the explosions failed to completely destroy the face of one of the Buddhas, a rocket was launched that left a hole in the remains of the stone head.

.

World public reaction to the destruction of the statues

The U.S. government said it was “dismayed and puzzled” by the decision to destroy the statues, which it called a “desecration of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage.”

India’s foreign ministry called the Taliban’s decision “an attack on the cultural heritage not only of the Afghan people but of humanity as a whole.”

UNESCO head Koichiro Matsuura condemned the Taliban’s actions, saying it was “appalling to see the cold-blooded and calculated destruction of cultural property that is the heritage of the Afghan people and of all humanity.”

Pakistan, one of the three countries that have officially recognized the Taliban, criticized the decision to destroy the statues.

.

Iran News said the Taliban’s decision, being “taken in the name of Islam, cast a shadow on the sacred religion.”

Egypt’s Mufti Nasr Farid Ouassel called on the Taliban to reverse its decision, saying that “the presence of the statues is not forbidden by Islam.”

Current status. Restoration projects

In 2003, numerous historic structures of the Bamiyan Valley were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, including Buddhist monasteries, giant Buddha statues (both destroyed and surviving), the remains of the town of Gaugale, and two Muslim fortresses.

Various plans have been proposed to restore the statues, including an unusual project by Japanese artist Hiro Yamagata, a laser projection that recreates the lost monuments. Conservation work is underway to preserve surviving paintings from the 5th to 9th centuries in cave Buddhist monasteries.

On March 14, 2011, it became known that UNESCO would not restore the Bamiyan Buddha statues. Two factors influenced this decision: the project would cost between 8 and 12 million dollars to finance, but the necessary funds were not available. Secondly, more than half of the Buddha will be made of new stone: “We have to think about the public, who don’t want a fake: they want the original. And the authentic statues have been destroyed,” said Francesco Bandarin, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Culture.”

.