Worldheritage Forum

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan

Posted on 17. January 2006 um 19:26 Uhr
» International UNESCO World Heritage

After the destruction of two huge standing Buddha statues 2001 by the Taliban, 2003 the Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Together with the inclusion in the World Heritage List the site was listed as a World Heritage in Danger.

The site was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, because:

• Criterion (i): The Buddha statues and the cave art in Bamiyan Valley are an outstanding representation of the Gandharan school in Buddhist art in the Central Asian region.
  
  
• Criterion (ii): The artistic and architectural remains of Bamiyan Valley, and an important Buddhist centre on the Silk Road, are an exceptional testimony to the interchange of Indian, Hellenistic, Roman, Sasanian influences as the basis for the development of a particular artistic expression in the Gandharan school. To this can be added the Islamic influence in a later period.
  
  
• Criterion (iii): The Bamiyan Valley bears an exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition in the Central Asian region, which has disappeared.
  
  
• Criterion (iv): The Bamiyan Valley is an outstanding example of a cultural landscape which illustrates a significant period in Buddhism.
  
  
• Criterion (vi): The Bamiyan Valley is the most monumental expression of the western Buddhism. It was an important centre of pilgrimage over many centuries. Due to their symbolic values, the monuments have suffered at different times of their existence, including the deliberate destruction in 2001, which shook the whole world.
  

reference:http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/208/

But there are potential risks to this site, as ICOMOS mentions in its Evaluation-Report:

Risk analysis:
The heritage properties are in a fragile state of conservation considering that they have suffered from abandonment, military actions, and dynamite explosions. They require urgent cure. There are some 50,000 inhabitants in the valley at the moment. Parts of the buffer zones are still used for military purposes. There is also some limited mining of rocks in the buffer zone of the Bamiyan Cliff. The area is subject to seismic hazard. Rain and snow can aggravate the fragile condition of the remains.
The major dangers include: risk of imminent collapse of the Buddha niches with the remaining fragments of the statues, further deterioration of still existing mural paintings in the caves, looting and illicit excavation. Parts of the area are still not accessible due to anti-person mines.
reference:http://whc.unesco.org/archive/advisory_body_evaluation/208rev.pdf

A group of international experts is trying to safe this cultural heritage.
They worked out a paper with recommendations on preservation.

(...)
participants at the meeting expressed their appreciation for the activities undertaken to consolidate the Buddhas' niches, preserve the statues' remains, protect the mural paintings, map the site, develop a Management Plan for the site as World Heritage property and a New Master Plan and train local personnel. The experts discussed the finalization of the preliminary World Heritage Management Plan and the Bamiyan New Master Plan. They also weighed the feasibility of a site museum. Furthermore, with a view to ensure the appropriate conservation of the fragments of the statue of the Buddha, the experts discussed the possibilities of anastylosis as one well established method of proper relocation of the fragments to their original position.
(...)
reference:http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/217

Here you can access the document.

Statue of Buddha in Bamiyan (55m) reference: WIKIPEDIA, GNU

After the destruction reference:WIKIPEDIA, GNU