Taliban-destroyed Buddhas may never be restored

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN: Taliban-destroyed Buddhas may never be restored
May 10, 2007
By Peter Bergen
CNN


A gaping hole remains where the Buddhas of Bamiyan once stood.

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan (CNN) -- At the foot of cliffs in central Afghanistan, about 5,000 fragments of what were once among the world's great artistic and religious treasures, the Buddhas of Bamiyan, sit in rudimentary shelters.

Their destruction by the Taliban in March 2001 was an act of cultural vandalism on a spectacular scale. The two tallest standing Buddhas in the world -- which had stood as silent sentinels over the snow-capped valley of Bamiyan for more than 1,500 years -- were reduced to mere rubble.

Wire mesh now covers the cliffs to prevent them from deteriorating further, while archaeologists and restoration experts have cataloged the fragments that remain of the giant statues.

The recovered pieces -- many the size of large boulders, others as tiny as pebbles -- are stored in the shelters while the archeological team decides whether to proceed with restoring the statues....More than three years after UNESCO, the United Nations' main cultural agency, declared Bamiyan to be a World Heritage site, no one knows if the statues can ever be saved....

***

Carved out of sandstone cliffs, the larger male Buddha once towered 170 feet above the valley, as high as a 15-story building, while the smaller female Buddha stood around 10 stories tall. The statues had survived the ravages of Mongolian conqueror and warrior Genghis Khan, centuries of wars and the natural wear and tear of the elements. But in 2001, despite protests from around the world, including from Muslim nations, the Taliban used explosives and tank fire to destroy Afghanistan's most famous tourist attraction.

The Taliban ordered their destruction as part of its campaign to destroy pre-Islamic artifacts considered an assault on Islam....

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/05/10/afghan.buddhas/index.html

[seemslikeadream]

1. Buddhas of Bamiyan

[seemslikeadream]

2. Buddhas of Bamiyan

[soothsayer]

3. Why did the world not use its might to defend those beautiful old Buddhas?

Was it to get us to hate the taliban (easy enough to do on its own) so we could invade afghanistan? I dunno why no one stopped that destruction. I'm still mad over it,even tho realy Buddhists prolly find it amusing in some way.

[shenmue]

6. I don't think anyone was asking us to invade.

Why blame us? :shrug:

[soothsayer]

8. I think I said "the world" cuz they were considered world treasures, to be

preserved and enjoyed by us and posterity. Why blame us? Because we have the cash and the might and besides, we hated the taliban just a couple of months later when sept 11 happened. So if we saw that all the other a-holes of the world weren't stepping up to the plate as the bastards started setting the dynamite around the Buddhas' feet, then president soothsayer sure would have sent the marines! or girl scouts. anyone really to tell them to KNOCK IT OFF.

[soothsayer]

9. I think I said "the world" cuz they were considered world treasures, to be

preserved and enjoyed by us and posterity. Why blame us? Because we have the cash and the might and besides, we hated the taliban just a couple of months later when sept 11 happened. So if we saw that all the other a-holes of the world weren't stepping up to the plate as the bastards started setting the dynamite around the Buddhas' feet, why didn't we? I can assure you that president soothsayer sure would have sent the marines! or girl scouts. anyone really to tell them to KNOCK IT OFF.

[Phredicles]

7. It was a sick and depraved act, but I don't realistically see how

there could have been a war to prevent it.

[MADem]

4. I think they should just cast replicas. Restoration at this point is impossible.

It won't look as good, or right, or the same, but they can cough up a replica that looks spot-on from the perspective that visitors will see it. There's enough footage, film, snaps and so forth that they could do a good job of it as well.

[shenmue]

5. I find it...

hard to feel sorry for people complaining about the lack of freedom for Muslims in a Muslim country... and for those who say they want more religious freedom when they take it away from others.