Hazara Nation

The Buddhas of Bamyan, two momumental statues of standing Buddhas built during the sixth century carved into a side of cliff in the Bamyan valley of central Afghanistan, were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

Seven years after the Taliban destroyed the Bamiyan Buddha statues, an UNESCO mission working together with Afghan officials has finished gathering the remaining fragments of the monumental statues and is considering beginning the reconstruction works.

The Buddhas of Bamyan, which represented the classic blended style of Indo-Greek art, were two momumental statues of standing Buddhas built during the sixth century carved into a side of cliff in the Bamyan valley of central Afghanistan. The destroyed statues were the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world as well as the most famous cultural landmarks of the region. The site was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the surrounding cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamyan Valley.

At the moment, officials are doing a careful study and taking measurements, the first step of anastylosis, an archaeological reconstruction technique used to restore runied monuments using original architectural elements where possible.

"They are now collecting the fragments of the Buddha and they are putting in a safe storage" Nasir Mudabir, director of historic monuments in Bamyan, tells the Basque media group EiTB.

Amir Foladi, a representative of Agha Khan Foundation, says rebuilding one statue is very important and remarks that experts say there is a possibility as fifteen to twenty percent of the surface has remained".

However, according to Foladi, one of the two monumental Buddhas "one should be left as it is just to remember that during thirty years what happened to Afghanistan, specially to the cultural and historical site."