2007-11-27
Scattered cultural heritage returns to Kabul
Building up Afghanistan’s National Museum is not just a matter of cultural heritage, claims Omara Khan Massoudi, who heads the museum. “We need to show that we can recreate what has been destroyed. This is an insight that visitors can take home with them.”
Destroyed buildings and columns that have partially collapsed line Darulaman Avenue, eight kilometres west of Kabul. Sheep are grazing in front of the ruins of King Amanullah Shah’s summer palace. The National Museum of Afghanistan has been located in a brown, two-storey building close by since 1931. But the museum was founded back in 1919 with objects from the king’s own collections.
Native items
During the 20th century, the collections were expanded with finds from a number of archaeological sites. Some 90 percent of the items were of native origin and they testified to Afghanistan’s multi-cultural past. Today, two-thirds of these cultural treasures have been lost; destroyed or stolen or smuggled out of the country.
The ruins surrounding the museum show very clearly just how devastatingly this part of Kabul has been struck during Afghanistan’s troubled past. In 1993 the museum was bombed during the civil war which was then being fought between the communist government and various guerrilla groups. The entire upper floor was destroyed and with it numerous items including a unique collection of Greek coins from the 8th century BC up until the 19th century.
Police guarding the museum
In 2004 the first exhibition after the fall of the Taliban was inaugurated. Many of the items that had been destroyed are gathered into neatly numbered piles waiting for a skilled conservator to glue them together again. More than 7000 objects have been returned to the museum and as late as 17 March a container arrived with 1423 objects that had been hidden in the strong room of a Swiss bank. The risk of new thefts is real even though police now guard the museum day and night.
“Our needs are vast. We lack both equipment and staff with the necessary expertise. We are 30 years behind the times”, maintains Omara Khan Massoudi who has headed the museum since 1979. “When the Taliban assumed power in 1996 after several years of civil war they said that they wanted to protect Afghanistan’s cultural heritage”, he explains. “I was pleased by this, for many valuable items had been destroyed during the civil war.”
Other plans
But it turned out that the Taliban had other plans – and when their leader Mullah Omar proclaimed that all pre-Islamic cultural items should be destroyed, Omara Khan Massoudi chose to give in his notice. “I couldn’t work together with them. The objects that they destroyed were part of humanity’s heritage.”
The destruction by explosives of the famous Buddha statues in Bamiyan caused reactions all over the world but masses of other national monuments were also destroyed. Omara Khan Massoudi, and many other people, did what they could to save as much as possible of Afghanistan’s heritage. They hid objects in the cellars of the museum as well as in buildings in the centre of Kabul.
Don't forget the destruction
After the fall of the Taliban, Omara Khan Massoudi returned to his post but says that he cannot forget what it felt like when the Taliban introduced a systematic destruction of invaluable items of our heritage. “This was a terrible disappointment. Everything felt hopeless. But I am glad that we were at least able to save some things.”
What role does the cultural heritage play in a country that has been hit by so much destruction?
“Culture is important in all societies. But in today’s Afghanistan it is not just a matter of bringing our culture and our past to life. We need to be able to show that we can rebuild what has been destroyed. This is an insight that people can take home with them. A society that preserves and honours its history is a living society.”
Local branches
In the future, Omara Khan Massoudi hopes to be able to open local branches of the museum in smaller cities and in the countryside. But much remains to be done before the National Museum can again function as the meeting point for Afghan cultural heritage that Omara Khan Massoudi dreams of.
“I am pleased with what we have achieved so far and each little step makes me happy. We are not just working for our own land but for the whole of humanity.”
Hashim Rawab
Writer and student at Kabul University