Coordinates: 34°49′55″N, 67°49′36″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

One of the Buddhas of Bamiyan as it stood in 1963

The Buddhas of Bamiyan (Persian: تندیس‌های بودا در باميان tandis-ha-ye buda dar bamiyaan) were two monumental statues of standing Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (143 miles) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2500 meters (8,202 feet). Most likely built in the fifth or sixth centuries, the statues represented the classic blended style of Greco-Buddhist art. Download high resolution version (526x707, 131 KB) This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Download high resolution version (526x707, 131 KB) This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Persian is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... A stone image of the Buddha. ... Bamiyan province is one of the thirty_four provinces of Afghanistan. ... A view of the old city Kabul Kabul (, Kâbl, in Persian کابل) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan with a population variously estimated at 2 to 4 million. ... Europe in 450 The 5th century is the period from 401 - 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... This Buddhist stela from China, Northern Wei period, was built in the early 6th century. ... Gandhara Buddha, 1st-2nd century CE. Greco-Buddhist art is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between the Classical Greek culture and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 1000 years in Central Asia, between the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century...

The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modelled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which was worn away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes. The lower parts of the statues' arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts. The rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs which served to stabilize the outer stucco. Red sandstone interior of Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona, worn smooth due to erosion by flash flooding over millions of years Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock grains. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

History

Bamiyan lies on the Silk Road, a caravan route linking the markets of China with those of South Asia, Central Asia, Middle East, and Europe. It was the site of several Buddhist monasteries, and a thriving center for religion, philosophy, and Greco-Buddhist art. It was a Buddhist religious site from the second century up to the time of the Islamic invasion in the ninth century. The Silk Road in the 1st century CE. For other uses, see Silk Road (disambiguation). ... South Asia is a southern geopolitical region of the Asian continent comprising territories on and in proximity to the Indian subcontinent. ... Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia (Russian: Средняя Азия/Srednyaya Azia for Middle Asia or Центральная Азия/Tsentralnaya Azia for Central Asia; in Turkic languages Orta Asya; in Persian آسياى مرکزی; (Urdu: وسطى ايشيا)Wasti Asia; Standard Mandarin Chinese... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... World map showing Europe Political map Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of Earth; the term continent here referring to a cultural and political distinction, rather than a physiographic one, thus leading to various perspectives about Europes precise borders. ... Greco-Buddhism, sometimes spelled Græco-Buddhism, is the cultural syncretism between the culture of Classical Greece and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 800 years in Central Asia in the area corresponding to modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century...

Monks at the monasteries lived as hermits in small caves carved into the side of the Bamiyan cliffs. Many of these monks embellished their caves with religious statuary and elaborate, brightly-colored frescoes. Onuphrius lived as a hermit in the desert of Upper Egypt in the late 4th century A hermit (from the Greek erēmos, signifying desert, uninhabited, hence desert-dweller) is a person who lives to some greater or lesser degree in seclusion and/or isolation from society. ... Fresco by Dionisius representing Saint Nicholas. ...

The two most prominent statues were the giant, standing Buddhas, measuring 55 and 37 meters (180 and 121 feet) high respectively, the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world. They were perhaps the most famous cultural landmarks of the region and the site was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with surrounding cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley. UNESCO logo UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ... Site #86: Memphis and its Necropolis, including the Pyramids of Giza (Egypt). ...

The smaller of the two statues, about 120 feet tall, was built in the 3rd century A.D. The larger one, at 175 feet, was constructed in the 5th century A.D. The statues are believed to have been built by the Indo-European Kushans and Hephthalites at the hey day of their empires. Ironically, the above mentioned tribes also formed the basis of Pashtun ethnogenesis — the ethnic group from which the Taliban drew its core following [1]. Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ... Boundary of the Kushan empire, c. ... The Hephthalites, also known as White Huns, were a nomadic people who lived across northern China, Central Asia, and northern India in the fourth through sixth centuries. ... The Pashtuns (also Pushtun, Pakhtun, ethnic Afghan, or Pathan) are an ethno-linguistic group consisting mainly of eastern Iranian stock living primarily in eastern and southern Afghanistan, and the North West Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Baluchistan provinces of Pakistan. ...

Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Hsüan-tsang (Xuanzang) passed through the area around 630 AD and described Bamiyan as a flourishing Buddhist centre "with more than ten monasteries and more than a thousand monks", and he noted that both Buddha figures were "decorated with gold and fine jewels" (Wriggins, 1995). See also: Xuanzang (fictional character) A portrait of Xuanzang Xuanzang (Chinese: 玄奘; Pinyin: Xuán Zàng; Wade-Giles: Hsüan-tsang; Cantonese IPA: jyn4tsɔŋ1; Cantonese Jyutping: jyun4zong1) (602-644/664) was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk. ... Events Muhammad captures Mecca (January). ...

A monumental sitting Buddha similar in style to those at Bamiyan still exists in the Bingling Temple caves in China's Gansu province. Smaller relief images The Great Maitreya Buddha The Bingling Temple (Chinese: 炳灵寺; Pinyin: Bǐnglíng Sì) is a series of grottoes filled with Buddhist sculpture carved into natural caves and caverns in a canyon along the Yellow River. ...

Destruction

When Mahmud of Ghazni conquered Afghanistan in the 12th century, the Buddhas and frescoes were spared from destruction. Aurangzeb, the last Mughal emperor distinguished for his religious zeal, employed heavy artillery in an attempt to destroy the statues^{[citation needed]}. Genghis Khan and Nadir Shah too had cannon fire directed at the statues. But over the centuries the statues had largely been left untouched. Mahmud and Ayaz The Sultan is to the right, shaking the hand of the sheykh, with Ayaz standing behind him. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... Aurangzeb (borrowed from early Persian, اورنگ‌زیب Awrang throne and Zayb beauty, ornament),(November 3, 1618 – March 3, 1707, also known as Alamgir I, was the ruler of the Mughal Empire from 1658 until 1707. ... The Mughal Empire at its greatest extent. ... , (c. ... Nadir Shah’s portrait from the collection of Smithsonian Institute Nadir Shah (Persian: نادر شاه) (Nadir Qoli Beg (Persian: نادر قلی بیگ), also Tahmasp-Qoli Khan (Persian: تهماسپ قلی خان) also Nadir Shah Afshar (Persian: نادر شاه افشار) ) (October 22, 1688 - June 19, 1747) ruled as Shah of Iran (1736–47) and was the founder of the short-lived Turkic Afsharid...

In July 1999, Mullah Mohammed Omar issued a decree in favor of the preservation of the Bamiyan Buddhas. Because Afghanistan's Buddhist population no longer existed, which removed the possibility of the statues being worshiped, he added: "The government considers the Bamiyan statues as an example of a potential major source of income for Afghanistan from international visitors. The Taliban states that Bamiyan shall not be destroyed but protected." [2] 1999 is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... A rare photograph of Omar (date unknown)-- Attention: shows signs of digital editing, refer to discussion for more information about this photo. ...

Afghan's Islamist clerics would begin a campaign to crack down on "un-Islamic" segments of Afghan society. The Taliban soon banned all forms of imagery, music and sports, including television, in accordance with what they considered a strict interpretation of Islamic law [3]. Islamism is a political ideology derived from the conservative religious views of Muslim fundamentalism. ... Sharia (Arabic شريعة also Sharia, Shariah or Syariah) is traditional Islamic law. ...

In March 2001, according to Agence France Presse in Kabul, the decree declared, "Based on the verdict of the clergymen and the decision of the Supreme Court of the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) all the statues around Afghanistan must be destroyed. All the statues in the country should be destroyed because these statues have been used as idols and deities by the non-believers before. They are respected now and may be turned into idols in future too. Only Allah, the Almighty, deserves to be worshiped, not anyone or anything else." 2001 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December Events: March 3 - A U.S. Air Force Materials Command C-23 Sherpa transport crashes during stormy weather in the U.S. state of Georgia, killing 21. ... Agence France-Presse (abbreviated AFP) is the oldest news agency in the world. ... A view of the old city Kabul Kabul (, Kâbl, in Persian کابل) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan with a population variously estimated at 2 to 4 million. ...

Information and Culture Minister Qadratullah Jamal told Associated Press of a decision by 400 religious clerics from across Afghanistan declaring the Buddhist statues against the tenets of Islam. "They came out with a consensus that the statues were un-Islamic," said Jamal. Associated Press logo Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ...

On March 6, the London Times quoted Mullah Mohammed Omar as stating, "Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. It has given praise to God that we have destroyed them." He had clearly changed his position from being in favor of the statues to being against them. During a March 13 interview for Japan's Mainichi Shimbun, Foreign Afghan Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel stated that the destruction was anything but a retaliation against the international community for economic sanctions: "We are destroying the Buddha statues in accordance with Islamic law and it is purely a religious issue". March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom since 1785, and under its current name since 1788. ... March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... Mainichi-Osaka Office Mainichi-News Port Mainichi Newspapers Settsu factory (A high-speed offset company factory is included. ... Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil. ...

On March 18, The New York Times reports, that a Taliban envoy said the Islamic government made its decision in a rage after a foreign delegation offered money to preserve the ancient works while a million Afghans faced starvation. The New York Times also added, however, that other reports "have said the religious leaders were debating the move for months, and ultimately decided that the statues were idolatrous and should be obliterated." March 18 is the 77th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (78th in leap years). ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

Then Taliban Ambassador-at-large, (and current Yale student) Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, said that the destruction of the statues was carried out during the famine in Afghanistan after a Swedish government earmarked money to be provided to restore the statues and refused to allow it to be used to aid Afghan Children. Hashimi is reported as saying: "When the Afghani head council asked them to provide the money to feed the children instead of fixing the statues, they refused and said, 'No, the money is just for the statues, not for the children'. Herein, they made the decision to destroy the statues" [4]. Ambassador-at-Large is the title for an Ambassador (diplomat of the highest carreer rank, not counting the rather political superiors in government) who is NOT posted (in residence) in a given embassy (accredited to one or exceptionally several, usually neighbouring, governments and/or seat of international organizations), but given... Hashemi in Los Angeles on March 10, 2001 after giving a talk at the University of Southern California Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi is a former envoy of the Taliban government in Afghanistan. ...

On April 19th 2004, in an interview to a Pakistani journalist Mohammad Shehzad, Mullah Mohammad Omar said the following, "I did not want to destroy the Bamiyan Buddha. In fact, some foreigners came to me and said they would like to conduct the repair work of the Bamiyan Buddha that had been slightly damaged due to rains. This shocked me. I thought, these callous people have no regard for thousands of living human beings — the Afghans who are dying of hunger, but they are so concerned about non-living objects like the Buddha. This was extremely deplorable. That is why I ordered its destruction. Had they come for humanitarian work, I would have never ordered the Buddhas' destruction."

The Islamist Taliban government decreed that the statues, which had survived intact for over 1,500 years, were idolatrous and un-Islamic. During the destruction, Taliban Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal lamented that, "this work of destruction is not as easy as people might think. You can't knock down the statues by shelling as both are carved into a cliff; they are firmly attached to the mountain." The two largest Buddhas faced dynamite and tank barrages and were demolished after almost a month of intensive bombardment. Islamism is a political ideology derived from the conservative religious views of Muslim fundamentalism. ... Flag flown by the Taliban. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ...

Calendar commemorating the destruction

According to UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura, a meeting of ambassadors from the 54 member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) was conducted. All OIC states - including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, three countries that officially recognised the Taliban government - joined the protest to spare the monuments (CNN). A statement issued by the ministry of religious affairs of Taliban regime justified the destruction as being in accordance with Islamic law AFP News. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would later condemn the destruction as "savage." A Swiss documentary reported that locals claimed to have seen Pakistani and Saudi engineers on site to help with the destruction of the statues.[5]. A Pakistani charity, Al Rasheed Trust, based in Karachi, had published a special calendar with photographs of the destructions to commemorate the destruction. Image File history File links Bamiyancalendar. ... Image File history File links Bamiyancalendar. ... UNESCO logo UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ... [[Image:Koïchiro_ ... The flag of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is an inter-governmental organization with a Permanent Delegation to the United Nations. ...

Commitment to rebuild

Though the figures of the two large Buddhas are almost completely destroyed, their outlines and some features are still recognizable within the recesses. It is also still possible for visitors to explore the monks' caves and the passages which connect them. As part of the international effort to rebuild Afghanistan after the Taliban war, the Government of Japan and several other organizations, among them the Afghanistan Institute in Bubendorf, Switzerland (it can be considered as the "Afghan National Museum in Exile" during the Taliban Period) along with the ETH in Zurich, have committed themselves to rebuilding the two largest Buddhas; anastylosis is one technique being considered. This article describes the structure of the Japanese Government. ... Eth (Ð, ð), also spelled edh or eð, is a letter used in Old English (Anglo-Saxon) and present-day Icelandic, and in Faroese language which call the letter edd. ... Celsus Library in Ephesos (Turkey), anastylosis carried out 1970-1978 Anastylosis (from the Ancient Greek: ; = again, and = to erect (a stela or building)) is an archaeological term referring to a reconstruction technique where a ruined monument is restored after careful study and mensuration using original architectural elements where possible. ...

Recent developments

In May 2002, a mountainside sculpture of the Buddha was carved out of a mountain in Sri Lanka. It was designed to closely resemble one of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. 2002 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December A timeline of events in the news for May, 2002. ...

In December 2004, Japanese researchers discovered that the wall paintings at Bamiyan were actually painted between the 5th and the 9th centuries, rather than the 6th to 8th centuries as previously believed. The discovery was made by analysing radioactive isotopes contained in straw fibers found beneath the paintings. Further discoveries are expected to be made after comparing the paintings' dates and styles. ← - 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in December • 30 Artie Shaw • 29 Julius Axelrod • 28 Jacques Dupuis • 28 Jerry Orbach • 28 Susan Sontag • 26 Reggie White • 26 Sir Angus Ogilvy • 23 P. V. Narasimha Rao • 23 Doug Ault • 19 Renata Tebaldi • 16... Europe in 450 The 5th century is the period from 401 - 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... As a means of recording the passage of time the 9th century was that century that lasted from 801 to 900. ... This Buddhist stela from China, Northern Wei period, was built in the early 6th century. ... (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ...

The Afghan government has commissioned Japanese artist Hiro Yamagata to recreate the Bamiyan Buddhas using fourteen laser systems to project the images of the Buddhas onto the cliff where they once stood. The laser systems will be solar-powered and wind-powered. The project, which will cost an estimated $9 million, is currently pending UNESCO approval. If approved, the project is estimated to be completed by 2007.

In September 2005, Mawlawi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi, Taliban governor of Bamiyan province at the time of the destruction, was elected to the Afghan Parliament. Flag flown by the Taliban. ...

Swiss filmmaker Christian Frei made a 95-minute documentary "The Giant Buddhas" (released in March 2006), on the statues, the international reactions to it, and an overview of the controversy. The movie makes the controversial claim (quoting a local Afghan) that the destruction was ordered by Osama Bin Laden and that initially, Mullah Omar and the Afghans in Bamiyan had opposed the destruction (Times of India Mar 27 2006). Christian Frei (b. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden (Arabic: ‎; born March 10, 1957 [1]), most commonly known as Osama bin Laden is a militant Islamist and also the founder of al-Qaeda. ...

In the summer of 2006 Afghani officials are deciding the timetable for the re-construction of the statues. The mullahs in the province have stated that the destruction was an atrocity and the statues deserve restoration. While they wait for the Afghan government and international community to decide whether to rebuild them, a $1.3 million UNESCO-funded project is sorting out the chunks of clay and plaster — ranging from boulders weighing several tons to fragments the size of tennis balls — and sheltering them from the elements.

External links

• "The Colossal Buddha Statues of Afghanistan - A Site Report". March 16 2006.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Buddhas of Bamiyan

• Buddhas of Bamiyan and more recent pictures from Afghanistan.
• Japanese researchers make breakthrough on destroyed Bamiyan paintings. Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, 2004-12-11.
• Wriggins, Sally Hovey. Xuanzang: A Buddhist Pilgrim on the Silk Road. Boulder: Westview Press, 1996
• Theosophical website with pictures
• Buddhas of Bamiyan and more photographs from Afghanistan
• Artist to recreate Afghan Buddhas. BBC News, 9 Aug 2005.
• "The Giant Buddhas" trilingual site (English, Deustch, Français) - a film about the destruction of the giant statues. By Christian Frei, Switzerland (2005).
• The Giant Buddhas at the Internet Movie Database
• "World appeals to Taleban to stop destroying statues". CNN, Mar 3 2001. (New York)
• http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/apr/12inter.htm
• Pakistani, Saudi engineers helped destroy BuddhasDaily Times, Sunday, March 19, 2006.