Afghanistan officially
the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the
crossroads of Central and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the east
and south (including a short border with Pakistani-controlled Gilgit–Baltistan,
a territory claimed by India), Iran to the west, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to
the north, and Tajikistan and China to the northeast. Occupying 652,864 square
kilometers (252,072 sq mi) of land, the country is predominately mountainous
with plains in the north and the southwest that are separated by the Hindu Kush
mountain range. As of 2021, its population is 40.2 million,composed mostly of
ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks. Kabul is the country's largest
city and serves as its capital.
The cultural landscape
and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley represent the artistic and
religious developments which from the 1st to the 13th centuries characterized
ancient Bakhtria, integrating various cultural influences into the Gandhara
school of Buddhist art. The area contains numerous Buddhist monastic ensembles
and sanctuaries, as well as fortified edifices from the Islamic period. The site
is also testimony to the tragic destruction by the Taliban of the two standing
Buddha statues, which shook the world in March 2001.
Enclosed between the
high mountains of the Hindu Kush in the central highlands of Afghanistan, the
Bamiyan Valley opens out into a large basin bordered to the north by a long,
high stretch of rocky cliffs. The Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains
of the Bamiyan Valley comprise a serial property consisting of eight separate
sites within the Valley and its tributaries. Carved into the Bamiyan Cliffs are
the two niches of the giant Buddha statues (55m and 38m high) destroyed by the
Taliban in 2001, and numerous caves forming a large ensemble of Buddhist
monasteries, chapels and sanctuaries along the foothills of the valley dating
from the 3rd to the 5th century C.E. In several of the caves and niches, often
linked by galleries, there are remains of wall paintings and seated Buddha
figures. In the valleys of the Bamiyan's tributaries are further groups of
caves including the Kakrak Valley Caves, some 3km south-east of the Bamiyan
Cliffs where among the more than one hundred caves dating from the 6th to 13th
centuries are fragments of a 10m tall standing Buddha figure and a sanctuary
with painted decorations from the Sasanian period. Along the Fuladi valley
around 2km southwest of the Bamiyan Cliffs are the caves of Qoul-i Akram and
Lalai Ghami, also containing decorative features.
Punctuating the centre
of the valley basin to the south of the great cliff are the remains of the
fortress of Shahr-i Ghulghulah. Dating from the 6th to 10th centuries CE, this
marks the original settlement of Bamiyan as stopping place on the branch of the
Silk Route, which linked China and India via ancient Bactria. Further to the
east along the Bamiyan Valley are the remains of fortification walls and
settlements, dating from the 6th to 8th centuries at Qallai Kaphari A and B and
further east still (around 15km east of the Bamiyan Cliffs) at Shahr-i Zuhak,
where the earlier remains are overlaid by developments of the 10th to 13th
centuries under the rule of the Islamic Ghaznavid and Ghorid dynasties.
The Cultural Landscape
and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley represent the artistic and
religious developments which from the 1st to the 13th centuries characterised
ancient Bactria, integrating various cultural influences into the Gandharan
school of Buddhist art. The numerous Buddhist monastic ensembles and
sanctuaries, as well as fortified structures from the Islamic period, testify
to the interchange of Indian, Hellenistic, Roman, Sasanian and Islamic
influences. The site is also testimony to recurring reactions to iconic art,
the most recent being the internationally condemned deliberate destruction of
the two standing Buddha statues in March 2001.
Asian Destinations
Readers need to be careful if they want to visit Afghanistan at this time,
given the unresolved internal conflict of Afghanistan. Asian Destinations in
making this article about Bamiyan Valley intends to inform the state of Bamiyan
Valley and does not recommend readers to go to Afghanistan at this time.
Souces
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan
https://www.worldheritagesite.org/list/Bamiyan+Valley
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/208/
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