watanafghanistan: Facts about Bamiyan & the Buddhas The Buddha was built some time between the third and fifth centuries. It was 57 meters high ( the hight of a 20 story building). There are total of three colossal statues carved 4,000 feet apart. At one time, two thousand monks meditated in caves among the sandstone cliffs. The world’s earliest oil paintings have been discovered in caves behind the partially destroyed colossal statues. Scientists from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility have confirmed that the oil paintings, probably of either walnut or poppy seed oil, are present in 12 of the 50 caves dating from the 5th to 9th century. Ironically Buddhism was also a religion that abhorred idols. Over 2000 years ago, the Buddha was represented by a symbol usually a foot print or a wheel. But then great change in Buddhism took place and it took place in Afghanistan. Those who ruled Bamyan lunched a new humanized form of Buddhism by turning a Buddha into a recognizable form. Afghanistan was the place where the Buddha in a human form was taken to the world. Before being blown up in 2001 they were the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world (the 8th century Leshan Giant Buddha is taller,  but the statue is sitting). The whole mountain surrounding the Buddha, is full of tunnels and it all leads to little chambers which the monks would have lived in and prayed in. The top of the Buddha’s face had been carved off and burned, by zealotry of Aurangzeb’s soldiers in the 18th century. A monk from Korea, Huichao (727 C.E. ) describes Bamiyan as an independent Buddhist state. In Bamiyan, as elsewhere in Central Asia, apocalypse came at the hands of Ghengis Khan in 1221 C.E. Ghengis sent a small army to seize the valley, commanded by his favorite grandson. When the boy was killed by a bowshot from the fortress of Shahr-i-Zohak ( the Red City), the Khan vowed implacable revenge: no human or animal would be allowed to live. As always in these matters, Ghengis Khan was true to his word. Neither the city of Bamiyan nor its outliers were ever rebuilt; their ruins stand today as mute testimony to the human capacity for savagery. The statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. Bamiyan is known as city of Screams. Now silent, it was once filled with screams of the thousands of people killed there by Ganges khan. It was a Buddhist religious site from the 2nd century up to the time of the Islamic invasion in the 9th century. Monks at the monasteries lived as hermits in small caves carved into the side of the Bamiyan cliffs. Many of these monks embellished their caves with religious statuary and elaborate, brightly colored frescoes. The two most prominent statues were the giant standing Buddhas Vairocana and Sakyamuni. The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang passed through the area around 630, and described Bamiyan in the Da Tang Xiyu Ji as a flourishing Buddhist center “with more than ten monasteries and more than a thousand monks”. He also noted that both Buddha figures were “decorated with gold and fine jewels”  The enormous statues,the male Salsal (“light shines through the universe”) and the (smaller) female Shamama (“Queen Mother”)as they were called by the locals. The Government of Japan and several other organizations, among them the Afghanistan Institute in Bubendorf, Switzerland, along with the ETH in Zurich, have committed to rebuilding, perhaps by anastylosis, the two largest Buddhas. 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 source: [1] [2] [3] [4]
Pop-upView Separately

watanafghanistan:

Facts about Bamiyan & the Buddhas

  • The Buddha was built some time between the third and fifth centuries.
  • It was 57 meters high ( the hight of a 20 story building).
  • There are total of three colossal statues carved 4,000 feet apart.
  • At one time, two thousand monks meditated in caves among the sandstone cliffs.
  • The world’s earliest oil paintings have been discovered in caves behind the partially destroyed colossal statues. Scientists from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility have confirmed that the oil paintings, probably of either walnut or poppy seed oil, are present in 12 of the 50 caves dating from the 5th to 9th century.
  • Ironically Buddhism was also a religion that abhorred idols. Over 2000 years ago, the Buddha was represented by a symbol usually a foot print or a wheel. But then great change in Buddhism took place and it took place in Afghanistan. Those who ruled Bamyan lunched a new humanized form of Buddhism by turning a Buddha into a recognizable form. Afghanistan was the place where the Buddha in a human form was taken to the world.

image

  • Before being blown up in 2001 they were the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world (the 8th century Leshan Giant Buddha is taller,  but the statue is sitting).
  • The whole mountain surrounding the Buddha, is full of tunnels and it all leads to little chambers which the monks would have lived in and prayed in.
  • The top of the Buddha’s face had been carved off and burned, by zealotry of Aurangzeb’s soldiers in the 18th century.
  • A monk from Korea, Huichao (727 C.E. ) describes Bamiyan as an independent Buddhist state.
  • In Bamiyan, as elsewhere in Central Asia, apocalypse came at the hands of Ghengis Khan in 1221 C.E. Ghengis sent a small army to seize the valley, commanded by his favorite grandson. When the boy was killed by a bowshot from the fortress of Shahr-i-Zohak ( the Red City), the Khan vowed implacable revenge: no human or animal would be allowed to live. As always in these matters, Ghengis Khan was true to his word. Neither the city of Bamiyan nor its outliers were ever rebuilt; their ruins stand today as mute testimony to the human capacity for savagery.
  • The statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art.
  • Bamiyan is known as city of Screams. Now silent, it was once filled with screams of the thousands of people killed there by Ganges khan.
  • It was a Buddhist religious site from the 2nd century up to the time of the Islamic invasion in the 9th century. Monks at the monasteries lived as hermits in small caves carved into the side of the Bamiyan cliffs. Many of these monks embellished their caves with religious statuary and elaborate, brightly colored frescoes.
  • The two most prominent statues were the giant standing Buddhas Vairocana and Sakyamuni.
  • The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang passed through the area around 630, and described Bamiyan in the Da Tang Xiyu Ji as a flourishing Buddhist center “with more than ten monasteries and more than a thousand monks”. He also noted that both Buddha figures were “decorated with gold and fine jewels” 
  • The enormous statues,the male Salsal (“light shines through the universe”) and the (smaller) female Shamama (“Queen Mother”)as they were called by the locals.
  • The Government of Japan and several other organizations, among them the Afghanistan Institute in Bubendorf, Switzerland, along with the ETH in Zurich, have committed to rebuilding, perhaps by anastylosis, the two largest Buddhas.
  • 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

source: [1] [2] [3] [4]

(via understandingghosts)

Forget the Taliban, Chinese copper miners are the new threat to Afghanistan’s Buddhas

An ancient archeological site in Afghanistan could soon be destroyed in the name of economic profit. The site at Mes Aynak, in Afghanistan’s Logar Province, is home to 5th-century Buddhist monasteries, temples and other relics, but also sits on one of the largest copper deposits in the world. A Chinese government-backed company, keen to develop the world’s second largest copper mine, discovered the ruins when they began excavating the site in 2010.

Bamyan - Afghanistan.
Pop-upView Separately

Bamyan - Afghanistan.

Buddha, Bamiyan site, Afghanistan
View Separately

Buddha, Bamiyan site, Afghanistan

Bamiyan Site Locator The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan Valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (140 mi) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft). Built in 507 AD, the larger in 554 AD, the Buddhas represented the classic blended style of Gandhara
Pop-upView Separately

Bamiyan Site Locator

The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan Valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated 230 km (140 mi) northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,202 ft). Built in 507 AD, the larger in 554 AD, the Buddhas represented the classic blended style of Gandhara

Bamiyan cave oil paintings

Scientists have proved, thanks to experiments performed at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), that the paintings were made of oil, hundreds of years before the technique was “invented” in Europe. Results were published on Monday in the peer-reviewed Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry.

In many European history and art books, oil painting is said to have started in the 15th century in Europe. But scientists from the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties in Tokyo (Japan), the Centre of Research and Restoration of the French Museums-CNRS (France), the Getty Conservation Institute (United States) and the ESRF have recently identified drying oils in some of the samples they studied from the Bamiyan caves. Painted in the mid-7th century CE, the murals show scenes with Buddhas in vermilion robes sitting cross-legged amid palm leaves and mythical creatures.

The results showed a high diversity of pigments as well as binders and the scientists identified original ingredients and alteration compounds. Apart from oil-based paint layers, some of the layers were made of natural resins, proteins, gums, and, in some cases, a resinous, varnish-like layer. Protein-based material can indicate the use of hide glue or egg. Within the various pigments, the scientists found a high use of lead whites. These lead carbonates were often used, since Antiquity up to modern times, not only in paintings but also in cosmetics as face whiteners.
This is the earliest clear example of oil paintings in the world, although drying oils were already used by ancient Romans and Egyptians, but only as medicines and cosmetics, explains Yoko Taniguchi, leader of the team.

During the time of analysis, it was discovered that oil, resinous components can be found in the group of wall paintings. The mid 7th century A.D painted murals has varying artistic work and has scenes with knotty haired Buddhas in vermilion robes sitting cross legged. Most of the paintings were the work of the artist traveled across Silk Road route between China across central Asia desert.

 The team started work in the area five years ago, investigating ways to preserve Buddhist art in some 1,000 caves that had been ravaged over the years by the harsh natural environment, rampant looting, and the infamous explosions. They found that about 50 of the caves were once adorned with glistening murals depicting images of Buddha, bodhisattvas, and female devotees. One unique scene shows the Persian solar deity Mithra, riding a chariot driven by four winged horses.

In 2008, their research revealed that paint samples from 12 of the caves contained “drying oils,” most likely walnut and poppy-seed oils, which are key ingredients in oil-based paints. In the ancient Mediterranean world, drying oils were used in medicines, cosmetics, and perfumes. Scholars long believed they were first added to paints much later in medieval Europe.



images by James Gordon

Sacred buried treasure can be found throughout Afghanistan (Wall Street Journal)
Pop-upView Separately

Sacred buried treasure can be found throughout Afghanistan (Wall Street Journal)

Historic find: Ancient Buddha statues inside a temple in Mes Aynak, south of Kabul, Afghanistan. Chinese labourers digging a copper mine made the astonishing discovery A Chinese company digging an unexploited copper mine in Afghanistan has unearthed ancient statues of Buddha in a sprawling 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery. Archaeologists are rushing to salvage what they can from a major 7th century B.C. religious site along the famed Silk Road connecting Asia and the Middle East. The ruins, including the monastery and domed shrines known as ‘stupas,’ will likely be largely destroyed once work at the mine begins. The ruins were discovered as labourers excavated the site on behalf of the Chinese government-backed China Metallurgical Group Corp, which wants to develop the world’s second largest copper mine, lying beneath the ruins. Hanging over the situation is the memory of the Buddhas of Bamiyan — statues towering up to 180 feet high in central Afghanistan that were dynamited to the ground in 2001 by the country’s then-rulers, the Taliban, who considered them symbols of paganism. No one wants to be blamed for similarly razing history at Mes Aynak, in the eastern province of Logar. MCC wanted to start building the mine by the end of 2011 but under an informal understanding with the Kabul government, it has given archaeologists three years for a salvage excavation. Archaeologists working on the site since May say that won’t be enough time for full preservation.
Pop-upView Separately

Historic find: Ancient Buddha statues inside a temple in Mes Aynak, south of Kabul, Afghanistan. Chinese labourers digging a copper mine made the astonishing discovery

A Chinese company digging an unexploited copper mine in Afghanistan has unearthed ancient statues of Buddha in a sprawling 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery.

Archaeologists are rushing to salvage what they can from a major 7th century B.C. religious site along the famed Silk Road connecting Asia and the Middle East.

The ruins, including the monastery and domed shrines known as ‘stupas,’ will likely be largely destroyed once work at the mine begins.

The ruins were discovered as labourers excavated the site on behalf of the Chinese government-backed China Metallurgical Group Corp, which wants to develop the world’s second largest copper mine, lying beneath the ruins.



Hanging over the situation is the memory of the Buddhas of Bamiyan — statues towering up to 180 feet high in central Afghanistan that were dynamited to the ground in 2001 by the country’s then-rulers, the Taliban, who considered them symbols of paganism.

No one wants to be blamed for similarly razing history at Mes Aynak, in the eastern province of Logar. MCC wanted to start building the mine by the end of 2011 but under an informal understanding with the Kabul government, it has given archaeologists three years for a salvage excavation.

Archaeologists working on the site since May say that won’t be enough time for full preservation.

A boy enjoys a swatch of sunlight and the view of the Kabul River from a cave once used for Buddhist meditation in Jalalabad. The Kabul and Kunar rivers make Nangarhar province an agricultural center. All photos by Daniel C. Britt.
Pop-upView Separately

A boy enjoys a swatch of sunlight and the view of the Kabul River from a cave once used for Buddhist meditation in Jalalabad. The Kabul and Kunar rivers make Nangarhar province an agricultural center. All photos by Daniel C. Britt.

Facts about Bamiyan & the Buddhas The Buddha was built some time between the third and fifth centuries. It was 57 meters high ( the hight of a 20 story building). There are total of three colossal statues carved 4,000 feet apart. At one time, two thousand monks meditated in caves among the sandstone cliffs. The world’s earliest oil paintings have been discovered in caves behind the partially destroyed colossal statues. Scientists from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility have confirmed that the oil paintings, probably of either walnut or poppy seed oil, are present in 12 of the 50 caves dating from the 5th to 9th century. Ironically Buddhism was also a religion that abhorred idols. Over 2000 years ago, the Buddha was represented by a symbol usually a foot print or a wheel. But then great change in Buddhism took place and it took place in Afghanistan. Those who ruled Bamyan lunched a new humanized form of Buddhism by turning a Buddha into a recognizable form. Afghanistan was the place where the Buddha in a human form was taken to the world. Before being blown up in 2001 they were the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world (the 8th century Leshan Giant Buddha is taller,  but the statue is sitting). The whole mountain surrounding the Buddha, is full of tunnels and it all leads to little chambers which the monks would have lived in and prayed in. The top of the Buddha’s face had been carved off and burned, by zealotry of Aurangzeb’s soldiers in the 18th century. A monk from Korea, Huichao (727 C.E. ) describes Bamiyan as an independent Buddhist state. In Bamiyan, as elsewhere in Central Asia, apocalypse came at the hands of Ghengis Khan in 1221 C.E. Ghengis sent a small army to seize the valley, commanded by his favorite grandson. When the boy was killed by a bowshot from the fortress of Shahr-i-Zohak ( the Red City), the Khan vowed implacable revenge: no human or animal would be allowed to live. As always in these matters, Ghengis Khan was true to his word. Neither the city of Bamiyan nor its outliers were ever rebuilt; their ruins stand today as mute testimony to the human capacity for savagery. The statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. Bamiyan is known as city of Screams. Now silent, it was once filled with screams of the thousands of people killed there by Ganges khan. It was a Buddhist religious site from the 2nd century up to the time of the Islamic invasion in the 9th century. Monks at the monasteries lived as hermits in small caves carved into the side of the Bamiyan cliffs. Many of these monks embellished their caves with religious statuary and elaborate, brightly colored frescoes. The two most prominent statues were the giant standing Buddhas Vairocana and Sakyamuni. The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang passed through the area around 630, and described Bamiyan in the Da Tang Xiyu Ji as a flourishing Buddhist center “with more than ten monasteries and more than a thousand monks”. He also noted that both Buddha figures were “decorated with gold and fine jewels”  The enormous statues,the male Salsal (“light shines through the universe”) and the (smaller) female Shamama (“Queen Mother”)as they were called by the locals. The Government of Japan and several other organizations, among them the Afghanistan Institute in Bubendorf, Switzerland, along with the ETH in Zurich, have committed to rebuilding, perhaps by anastylosis, the two largest Buddhas. 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 source: [1] [2] [3] [4]
Pop-upView Separately

Facts about Bamiyan & the Buddhas

  • The Buddha was built some time between the third and fifth centuries.
  • It was 57 meters high ( the hight of a 20 story building).
  • There are total of three colossal statues carved 4,000 feet apart.
  • At one time, two thousand monks meditated in caves among the sandstone cliffs.
  • The world’s earliest oil paintings have been discovered in caves behind the partially destroyed colossal statues. Scientists from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility have confirmed that the oil paintings, probably of either walnut or poppy seed oil, are present in 12 of the 50 caves dating from the 5th to 9th century.
  • Ironically Buddhism was also a religion that abhorred idols. Over 2000 years ago, the Buddha was represented by a symbol usually a foot print or a wheel. But then great change in Buddhism took place and it took place in Afghanistan. Those who ruled Bamyan lunched a new humanized form of Buddhism by turning a Buddha into a recognizable form. Afghanistan was the place where the Buddha in a human form was taken to the world.

  • Before being blown up in 2001 they were the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world (the 8th century Leshan Giant Buddha is taller,  but the statue is sitting).
  • The whole mountain surrounding the Buddha, is full of tunnels and it all leads to little chambers which the monks would have lived in and prayed in.
  • The top of the Buddha’s face had been carved off and burned, by zealotry of Aurangzeb’s soldiers in the 18th century.
  • A monk from Korea, Huichao (727 C.E. ) describes Bamiyan as an independent Buddhist state.
  • In Bamiyan, as elsewhere in Central Asia, apocalypse came at the hands of Ghengis Khan in 1221 C.E. Ghengis sent a small army to seize the valley, commanded by his favorite grandson. When the boy was killed by a bowshot from the fortress of Shahr-i-Zohak ( the Red City), the Khan vowed implacable revenge: no human or animal would be allowed to live. As always in these matters, Ghengis Khan was true to his word. Neither the city of Bamiyan nor its outliers were ever rebuilt; their ruins stand today as mute testimony to the human capacity for savagery.
  • The statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art.
  • Bamiyan is known as city of Screams. Now silent, it was once filled with screams of the thousands of people killed there by Ganges khan.
  • It was a Buddhist religious site from the 2nd century up to the time of the Islamic invasion in the 9th century. Monks at the monasteries lived as hermits in small caves carved into the side of the Bamiyan cliffs. Many of these monks embellished their caves with religious statuary and elaborate, brightly colored frescoes.
  • The two most prominent statues were the giant standing Buddhas Vairocana and Sakyamuni.
  • The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang passed through the area around 630, and described Bamiyan in the Da Tang Xiyu Ji as a flourishing Buddhist center “with more than ten monasteries and more than a thousand monks”. He also noted that both Buddha figures were “decorated with gold and fine jewels” 
  • The enormous statues,the male Salsal (“light shines through the universe”) and the (smaller) female Shamama (“Queen Mother”)as they were called by the locals.
  • The Government of Japan and several other organizations, among them the Afghanistan Institute in Bubendorf, Switzerland, along with the ETH in Zurich, have committed to rebuilding, perhaps by anastylosis, the two largest Buddhas.
  • 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

source: [1] [2] [3] [4]

“Buddha… gone!” - Bamyan- Afghanistan
Pop-upView Separately

“Buddha… gone!” - Bamyan- Afghanistan

Pop-upView Separately
sitting buddha A nearly life-sized sitting budda statue. Wonderful condition, ‘cept for the nose. in kabul museum
Pop-upView Separately

sitting buddha

A nearly life-sized sitting budda statue. Wonderful condition, ‘cept for the nose. in kabul museum

Buddha caves, Bamiyan
Pop-upView Separately

Buddha caves, Bamiyan

Pop-upView Separately