The artefacts in Afghanistan: hidden treasures from the National Museum, Kabul began their journey thousands of years ago, when the country we now know as Afghanistan lay at the crossroads of the ancient world.
The four regions that comprised ancient Afghanistan – Bactria, Aria, Arachosia and Paropamisadai – were the sites of complex exchanges of trade and culture. From 3500 BCE, Lapis lazuli from the Sar-i-Sang mines in the north east was sent as far south as Mesopotamia and as far west as North Africa. Later, the great Greek city of Ai Khanoum in ancient Bactria rose and fell on the Oxus River, but not before Hellenism had made its mark on Central Asia. Glass ingots exported from Egypt throughout the ancient world would be refashioned by Roman artisans, to make their way into the storerooms of Bactrian traders. Gold jewellery flowed east and west through the valley passes that crisscrossed the Hindu Kush.
As many of the ancient civilisations of Afghanistan have left us no historical traces or written records, these artefacts do more than illustrate tastes and traditions – they document human interaction in one of richest cultural regions in the world. The National Museum of Afghanistan, located in Darulaman, Kabul, is therefore more than just a national archive; it is a monument to a shared human history.
In the late 1970s the museum housed more than 100,000 objects. However, more than two decades of civil war and conflict have exacted a terrible toll on its collection. During Soviet occupation of Afghanistan the museum was commandeered by the military and many of its treasures were hastily removed. Worse was to come. During years of civil war a rocket attack destroyed the museum’s roof and storerooms, allowing thousands of artefacts to be lost and looted. By the mid 1990s only 4000 objects could be located. Then came the Taliban’s disastrous 2001 edict mandating the destruction of ‘idolatrous’ works; another 2500 were lost.
Were it not for the remarkable foresight and bravery of the museum’s staff to hide the greatest treasures and keep their secret safe, the world might have lost a second Library of Alexandria. What was at stake throughout is captured by nine words now engraved at the museum’s entrance: ‘a nation stays alive when its culture stays alive’.
Enter the interactive site to uncover the full story.