A bit of good news (see below), for a country that could certainly use
some. Progress in other aspects of Afghanistan's recovery remains slow;
see some recent photos from Kabul at:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041114/481/kab10311141112
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/041112/481/kab10311120838
András Riedlmayer
Fine Arts Library
Harvard University
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041117/wl_nm/afghanistan_treasures_dc_2
Reuters
Nov 17, 2004
Afghanistan's 'Lost' Heritage Found in Musty Boxes
By Sue Pleming
WASHINGTON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - More than 22,000 ancient cultural treasures
from Afghanistan, feared lost or destroyed after decades of war and
Taliban rule, have been taken out of dusty crates and safes in Kabul
and inventoried for safekeeping, said a U.S. archeologist on Wednesday.
The objects, including 2,500 years' worth of gold and silver coins
and ancient sculptures, represent a "Silk Road" of goods once traded
from China, India, Egypt, Greece, Rome and ancient Afghanistan.
"By the end of the Taliban's reign, most of us thought there was nothing
left, just destruction and despair," said National Geographic fellow and
archeologist Fred Hiebert, who led an inventory project of the items.
Many of the treasures were once on display in the Kabul Museum, which
was shelled several times and lost its roof and door. Inventory cards
were lost by fire and neglect, making it difficult to track down
any of the items.
"This project has been an enormous boost for Afghanistan - finding
the treasures intact and then working with the outstanding team to
inventory each one of them, preserving our heritage for our children,"
said Afghanistan's minister of information and culture, Sayed Makhdoom
Raheen, in a statement released by National Geographic.
Hiebert told reporters in a conference call he hoped the detailed
inventory would make it easier for international law enforcement groups
to track down precious items still missing.
Some looted artifacts have turned up in recent years at auction houses
in Tokyo, London and New York, and Hiebert hopes these can be returned
to Afghanistan.
DUSTY BOXES
The bulk of the newly inventoried items were found in April 2003
when a presidential palace vault in Kabul was cracked open to reveal
a trove of famed, in tact Bactrian gold pieces.
But many more artifacts, including giant Buddhist sculptures and
ancient ivory statues, have been found in recent months in unmarked
boxes and safes stashed for safekeeping during the Soviet-led coup
and then during the years of hardline Taliban rule.
After doing a first inventory of the Bactrian gold pieces, Hiebert
was surprised when he was asked to look at 20 other boxes found to
contain precious objects that Silk Road camels once carried between
China and Rome and elsewhere.
"I looked at the eyes of the museum curators who had not seen these
(artifacts) for 25 years and it was a very emotional experience.
They saw their own heritage coming to life," he said.
Later, more trunks of precious artifacts were found in another location,
which Hiebert declined to name because of security concerns.
Fearing they would find only objects smashed by the Taliban who had
destroyed many pre-Islamic objects, these trunks were filled with
hundreds and hundreds of sculptures and carvings from Buddhist
religious structures, Hiebert said.
None of the newly uncovered items is yet on display in Afghanistan,
mostly due to security concerns but also because a suitable exhibit space
has not been found yet.
The old Kabul Museum is on the edge of the city and Hiebert says
there are hopes a new museum will be built in a central location.
One option is to stage an international tour of these objects
until a new museum space is built.
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