Country’s national treasures destined for National Museum being carried
War-torn Afghanistan is struggling to bring back life to the Afghan National Museum. It’s been two and half years since the museum reopened. Museum building renovations are nearly complete. Afghan workers are restoring artifacts under the guidance of foreign experts.
The museum has in storage what all was not demolished by the Taliban, looted by smugglers or damaged by bombardments.
Construction in the entrance hall
Big donations have been made by other countries. Holand and Japan donated glass display cases recently. Last week, more than 1,400 artifacts held in Switzerland over the past decade for safekeeping were returned to the museum for restoration.
Afghan curators are trying to piece together hundreds of tiny stones which were once the part of Buddhist statues. Taliban smashed these statues six years ago.
Complex which used to house Buddha Statues
The museum was once a repository of Afghanistan’s rich history as a crossroads of Middle Eastern and Asian cultures but has been torn apart, piece by piece over the last 15 years.
Destroyed ceramic collections
Pieces of artifacts in racks at the basement of museum
Stone carvings on Display at the museum
The staff says that it is a difficult challenge to get Afghans back to the museum but with Rory Stewart’s plan of an afternoon in the park they may succeed in alluring them.
Source: NPR
