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<< Other Photo Pages >> Buddhas of Bamiyan - Sculptured Stone in Afghanistan

Submitted by KaiHofmann on Tuesday, 06 December 2011  Page Views: 6038

Multi-periodSite Name: Buddhas of Bamiyan
Country: Afghanistan
NOTE: This site is 237.979 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Sculptured Stone
Nearest Town: Bamyan  Nearest Village: Bamyan
Latitude: 34.832042N  Longitude: 67.826803E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
Destroyed Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Buddhas of Bamiyan
Buddhas of Bamiyan submitted by Andy B : The taller Buddha of Bamiyan before (left picture) and after destruction (right). To distinguish the two statues (55 m and 37 m) from each other look at the form of the statues niche. The niche of the taller Buddha is much more precise. Left: UNESCO/A Lezine Right: Carl Montgomery Site in Afghanistan (Vote or comment on this photo)
Sculptured Stone in Afghanistan

In March 2001 the 2 monumental sandstone/stucco buddha statues of Bamiyan were destroyed by the Islamist Taliban group. The bigger statue was 55m high, the smaller 37m high. They belonged to the Gandhara art style. The smaller was built in 507 CE, the larger in 554 CE. Until being blown up the Statues were the largest standing statues in the world.

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Buddhas of Bamiyan
Buddhas of Bamiyan submitted by durhamnature : Old drawing of the ill-fated statues, from "Asia..." via archive.org Site in Afghanistan (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby Images from Flickr
Bamian Afghanstan
Buddha's of Bamiyan
Buddha's of Bamiyan
Buddha's of Bamiyan
Buddha's of Bamiyan
Buddha's of Bamiyan

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
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"Buddhas of Bamiyan" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Rebuilding the Buddhas of Bamiyan? by Andy B on Saturday, 12 May 2012
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Commitment to rebuild and developments since 2002

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 and ETH in Zurich, have committed to rebuilding the two largest Buddhas.

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 and wind-powered. The project, which will cost an estimated $9 million, is currently pending UNESCO approval.

Since 2002, international funding has supported recovery and stabilization efforts at the site. Fragments of the statues are documented and stored with special attention given to securing the structure of the statue still in place. It is hoped that, in the future, partial anastylosis can be conducted with the remaining fragments. In 2009, ICOMOS constructed scaffolding within the niche to further conservation and stabilization. Nonetheless, several serious conservation and safety issues exist and the Buddhas are still listed as World Heritage in Danger.

In the summer of 2006, Afghan officials were deciding on the timetable for the re-construction of the statues. As they wait for the Afghan government and international community to decide when 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.

After the destruction of the Buddhas, 50 caves were revealed. In 12 of the caves, wall paintings were discovered. In December 2004, an international team of researchers stated the wall paintings at Bamiyan were painted between the 5th and the 9th centuries, rather than the 6th to 8th centuries, citing their analysis of radioactive isotopes contained in straw fibers found beneath the paintings. It is believed that the paintings were done by artists travelling on the Silk Road, the trade route between China and the West.

On 8 September 2008 archeologists searching for a legendary 300-metre statue at the site of the already dynamited Buddhas announced the discovery of an unknown 19-metre (62-foot) reclining Buddha, a pose representing Buddha's passage into nirvana.[43]
Restoration

The UNESCO Expert Working Group on Afghan cultural projects convened to discuss what to do about the two statues between 3–4 March 2011 in Paris. Researcher Erwin Emmerling of Technical University Munich announced he believed it would be possible restore the smaller statue using an organic silicon compound.

The Paris conference issued a list of 39 recommendations for the safeguarding of the Bamiyan site. These included leaving the larger Western niche empty as a monument to the destruction of the Buddhas, a feasibility study into the rebuilding of the Eastern Buddha, and the construction of a central museum and several smaller site museums.

Work has since begun on restoring the Buddhas using the process of anastylosis, where original elements are combined with modern material. It is estimated that roughly half the pieces of the Buddhas can be put back together according to Bert Praxenthaler, a German art historian and sculptor involved in the restoration. The project, which also aims to encourage tourism to the area, is being organised by two organisations, UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).

The work has come under some criticism. It is felt by some that the empty

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Re: Buddhas of Bamiyan by KaiHofmann on Tuesday, 06 December 2011
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this is a very interesting panorama website of the destroyed buddhas of bamyian:

Panorama Website of destroyed Buddhas
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