Buddha statues by Bamiyan

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The larger of the two huge Buddha statues before and after the destruction. The photo on the left is from 1963, the one on the right from 2008. It was 53 meters high.

The Buddha statues of Bamiyan ( Hindi बामियान के बुद्ध Bamiyan ke But ; Persian بتهاى بامیان Buthāye Bāmiyān ) were once the largest standing Buddha statues in the world. They were until its destruction by the Taliban in March 2001 at 2,500 meters above sea level, a majority of Hazara inhabited valley of Bamiyan , located in the center of Afghanistan is and by the UNESCO as a World Heritage listed. The two largest and most famous of these statues were 53 and 35 m high, respectively. In addition, a number of other, smaller Buddha statues were incorporated into the cliff there. They are historical testimonies to a unique Buddhist art practiced there from around the 3rd to the 10th century. In the meantime, the niches of the statues have been secured and their debris has been recovered. Efforts are being made to rebuild the statues. Aid funds were also promised for this purpose, but without a specific decision being taken.

Bamiyan Buddhist culture

View around 1878/79

Favored by its location on one of the main trade routes from the Occident to China and India, the valley was of great strategic importance even in ancient times. The trade caravans contributed to both the cultural and material prosperity of the region, which made the construction of the huge statues possible.

A number of settlements and empires of various sizes had sprung up along these trade routes in Central Asia. Under the rule of the Kushana dynasty, Buddhism slowly established itself in the Hindu Kush region . A number of Buddhist sites - stupas , temples and monasteries - arose there between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD . Bamiyan was one of the larger ones and housed several thousand Buddhist monks in the 6th century.

The Buddhist art of this region was the result of a cultural synthesis, significantly influenced by the earlier Gandhara culture and the Indian Gupta culture , and unique of its kind.

The time when Buddhism entered Bamiyan is believed to be between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD. In the 8th century, Bamiyan came under Islamic rule. Still, Buddhism was able to last about two centuries longer. It wasn't until the turn of the millennium that Bamiyan was Islamized.

In the rock wall from which the large statues had been carved out, there were also caves dug out of the rock, in which the monks lived, and prayer halls with rich wall paintings. Corridors and galleries were created around the figures. A Japanese team of archaeologists estimated the number of caves to be around 900.

layout

The smaller of the two huge Buddha statues was 35 meters high. The finer details of the statue were modeled with a special clay plaster. The picture also shows a wall painting on the ceiling of the niche, which was there until the statue was destroyed.

The statues were carved out of the red sandstone in the 6th century . Archaeologists date the creation of the smaller statue to around the year 510, the larger statue was created around 550. The small statue measured 35 meters, the large 53 meters; their niches are around 38 and 58 meters high, respectively.

Both statues were made in a rock niche carved into the mountain especially for this purpose. Their shapes were roughly cut into the rock and then modeled by applying a clay plaster. This plaster, which was a mixture of clay, straw and horse hair, was further fixed with ropes and pieces of wood. According to the restorers , the large statue was then painted carmine red , the smaller one in multiple colors. In addition, the niches of the statues were decorated with wall paintings in their upper areas . How exactly the statues used to look is still not sufficiently clear. For example, in Xuanzang's travelogue you can read that they were originally said to have been covered with gold and adorned with jewels. The approx. 2 km long rock monastery had and still has, despite the destruction by Abdur Rahman Khan in the 19th century and despite the complete destruction by the Taliban , a huge system of caves, rock stairs, balconies, prayer rooms and galleries, which are estimated to be approx. 3000 to 5000 Buddhist monks were inhabited. Today the caves are home to a wide variety of Hazara people .

The rock stairs led to the top of the Buddha statues. Many of these rock stairs are still in place. A spiral staircase led to the head of the 53 m high statue . Visitors from Europe and America stood there in the 1960s and 70s, looking at the murals and looking out over the Bamiyan Valley.

Corridors and galleries were created around the figures, and hundreds of prayer halls and caves were laid out, some with rich wall paintings.

In addition to the two standing large Buddha statues, two medium-sized, seated statues and a number of smaller statues were carved into the cliff.

Religious meaning

The larger statue was an image of the Buddha Dipamkara , the Buddha of the age that preceded ours. The smaller statue represented the Buddha of our age, the Buddha Shakyamuni ( Siddhartha Gautama ). In the 11th century, an Iranian traveler described the statues as Sorch But ((also Surkh But سرخ بت), German "Red or Warm Buddha") and Khonok But ((خنک بت) also Khing But German "cold or white Buddha"). They are also popularly called Solsol or Salsal (صلصل Light of the Universium ) and Shahmama (شاه مامه Queen Mother ) called.

According to a Persian legend, the statues are said to represent King Solsol and his wife Shahmama ( mother queen ). The Buddhas were also known by these names in Afghanistan. The old Iranian-speaking Kushans and Sassanids are said to have honored Solsol in the role of Rostam . Onsuri , an 11th century poet in Ghazna , wrote a verse love story about Sorch But and Khonok But and the fairy tale of Rostam and Sohrab .

Third giant Buddha

It is believed that an even larger representation of a reclining Buddha existed earlier. It is said to be a representation of the Buddha in nirvana (Buddha on his deathbed), who is said to have had a thousand legs. The Chinese monk Xuanzang (also Hsüan-Tsang), who visited the valley of Bamiyan in 632 during his trip to India, mentioned them in his report and stated their height as 1000 feet - that is about 300 meters. His information about the size and the location of the known standing Buddha statues had proven to be remarkably accurate during research, so his report is classified as entirely credible by research.

According to archaeologists, the image could still be hidden in the ground, for two possible reasons: either the residents of Bamiyan could have deliberately hidden it for fear of being destroyed by Muslim invaders, or the image could be buried in an earthquake have been. Most experts assume, however, that it was destroyed a long time, not least because this image, unlike the statues standing in the rock niches, was exposed to the elements.

destruction

The niche of the 35 m tall Buddha statue after the destruction. (2005)

With the suppression of Buddhism by Islam, the statues lost their importance and became the target of destruction (see also iconoclasm ), since the representation of human figures was not desired. So the statues first lost their jewelry, then their faces and hands. The statues have been damaged several times throughout history.

In particular, the genitals of the sculptures are said to have been shot at with artillery on the orders of Abdur Rahman Khan at the end of the 19th century when his troops marched into Hazarajat (Hazara areas) as part of the campaigns. Bamiyan was visited by the first Europeans in 1824, Oskar von Niedermayer took the first two photos of the statues in 1916, and in 1930 French archaeologists began research and excavation work as well as emergency safety measures to stop the decay. In mid-June 1938, Hans-Hasso von Veltheim visited Bamiyan and published a detailed report on the facility in his “Diaries from Asia” in 1951. Von Veltheim found the faces of the two Buddhas hacked down to the upper lip and, due to the careful processing, assumed that Buddhist believers could have removed their faces even when the hordes of Genghis Khan attacked in 1222, so that the venerated statues were only mutilated into the hands of the Mongols to drop.

Before the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in 1979, Bamiyan was still an international tourist destination. During the wars that followed, the plateau above the up to 100 meter high rock face with the statues was a strategically important place that was repeatedly contested and from which the valley to the south could be controlled. So there were positions of the Soviet troops, the Mujahedin and finally the Taliban one after the other . The caves were used as ammunition depots. In September 1998 the Taliban destroyed the part of the head of the smaller Buddha that was still there. The remains of the wall paintings above were also largely destroyed. On March 12, 2001, on the order of Mullah Mohammed Omar , Taliban militias demolished the statues. In addition to the two large statues, one of the smaller, seated Buddha statues and the approximately 10 meter high statue in the neighboring Kakrak Valley were blown up. It took the Taliban four days to destroy the statues. This act was interpreted as a performative iconoclasm that was ultimately directed against the concept of cultural heritage that was perceived as western.

The destruction could not be prevented despite various interventions by the UN and Western and Islamic governments. In addition to the statues of Bamiyan, almost all Buddhist exhibits in the museum in Kabul , which represented an irretrievable treasure of Buddhist art, were also destroyed.

Stabilization work, salvage of the rubble

Storage of the salvaged debris of the statues (2007)

Immediately after the end of the Taliban rule, UNESCO initiated a first survey of the situation in December 2001. The remains of the statues were covered with protective tarpaulin to protect them from weathering. A second, more extensive investigation in 2002 found that over 80% of the cave paintings had either been willfully destroyed or looted by looters. Japanese experts then began in 2003 to conserve the still existing wall paintings. In the same year, an Italian specialist company undertook the first stabilization work on some areas at risk of collapse - partly in the niches of the statues themselves, but also on the staircases in the mountain - which were then continued and completed in 2004.

In March 2004, a team of restorers from the German department of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), financed by the German Foreign Office, began the recovery and documentation of the rock fragments that were lying around in and in front of the niches. This work has now been completed. The rock pieces with carved surfaces are stored in warehouses in front of the niche of the great Buddha. The ICOMOS report presented in April 2010 shows that previous work has concentrated on securing the niche of the little Buddha. The recovery of the Great Buddha fragments continued in 2010. The feet hidden under rubble were visible again, the buried caves free again.

Search for the third Buddha

A team of archaeologists led by Professor Zemaryalai Tarzi , who extensively restored the statues including their frescoes in the 1970s, began excavations in the Bamiyan Valley in 2002. Finding the presumed third great Buddha was also a goal of this project. The archaeologists based their search on the tradition of Xuanzang, according to which this Buddha is said to be located within the walls of a Buddhist monastery east of the royal city of Bamiyan. In 2006, after excavations carried out in several places, Tarzi was certain that he had found the right monastery at a distance of about 1.5 kilometers. Due to the size of this temple complex, however, he urged patience. The excavations would continue.

In mid-2008, the discovery of another statue, namely a 19-meter representation of a sleeping Buddha, was announced. Most of the parts of this statue, however, were practically no longer present, while its neck, shoulders, parts of the right arm and its pillow could be found. While the search for the 300 meter tall Buddha was ongoing in 2009, the archaeologists had already uncovered several monastery sites and also carried out excavation work at the large Bamiyans stupa . In addition to Tarzi's team, Japanese archaeologists are also carrying out excavations in the Bamiyan Valley.

Possible rebuilding

At two international expert meetings held within the framework of UNESCO in 2002, it was emphasized that priority should be given to securing other cultural monuments in Afghanistan that are in immediate danger of collapse. As a result, UNESCO and the Afghan government repeatedly said that the statues should not be rebuilt. When the Thai government promised financial aid for possible reconstruction in 2006, the Afghan government was much more open-minded. Many residents of the region, as well as the governor of Bamiyan, who estimated the cost of rebuilding the statues at US $ 50 million in 2006, are in favor of it. In their opinion, this would encourage tourism and would be a kind of reparation. On the other hand, the elaborate reconstruction of Buddhist monuments in an impoverished Muslim country, in which over ten percent of the population is dependent on food aid, could cause domestic political explosions. There are considerations of leaving one of the two niches in a destroyed state as a reminder of what happened and only rebuilding a statue.

At the end of 2001, a Swiss group announced plans to rebuild the statues. There are now several virtual 3D reconstructions, such as the one of the Great Buddha from ETH Zurich from 2004; Independently of this, Professor Jansen and his team at RWTH Aachen University , which works with ICOMOS, have also developed a three-dimensional computer model of the monuments. With the latter it should be possible to locate the exact original location of the fragments. These data would be essential for a possible reconstruction of the statues.

In March 2011, UNESCO announced that reconstruction was currently ruled out due to the prevailing conditions.

Cinematic reception

literature

  • Joseph Hackin : The Colossal Buddhas at Bamiyan - Their Influence on Buddhist Sculpture. In: Eastern Art (Philadelphia), Vol. 1, No. 2, 1928, pp. 109–116, ( online at: Center for Buddhist Studies, National Taiwan University , or unich.it (Word document) at: University of Chieti e Pescara )
  • Kosaku Maeda: The Mural Paintings of the Buddhas of Bamiyan: Description and Conservation Operations. In: Juliette van Krieken-Pieters (Ed.): Art and Archeology of Afghanistan - Its Fall and Survival. Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden 2006, ISBN 90-04-15182-6 ( Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 8 Uralic & Central Asian Studies. Volume 14), pp. 127-144.
  • Michael Petzet / International Council on Monuments and Sites (Ed.): The Giant Buddhas of Bamiyan. Safeguarding the Remains . Monuments and Sites 29. Berlin 2009.
  • Michael Falser: The Buddhas of Bamiyan, performative iconoclasm and the “image” of cultural heritage. In: Kultur und Terror: Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaft Vol. 1, 2010, pp. 82–93.
  • Carl Ritter : The Stupa's (Topes) or the architectural monuments on the Indo-Bactrian Königsstrasse and the Colosse von Bamiyan , Nicolaische Buchhandlung, Berlin 1838 ( on Google Books )
  • Veronika Kochesser: The Buddhist cave complex of Bamiyan - an art-historical dating attempt of the caves of the earliest phases with the help of the 14 C-analyzes and pigment analyzes , diploma thesis, Vienna 2010 ( digital )

Web links

Videos, pictures

Commons : Buddha Statues by Bamiyan  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

items

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS): Heritage at Risk 2004/05 - ICOMOS Actions in Afghanistan (PDF file; 553 kB), March 24, 2005, accessed on October 21, 2009.
  2. ^ Universität der Bundeswehr München: Situation of the Buddha Statues in the Valley of Bamian, Afghanistan , (Appendix G) (PDF file; 23 MB), created: May 21, 2003, pp. 86-88 (English), accessed on November 6, 2009.
  3. ↑ Investigation of the condition and stability of the rock niches of the Buddha statues in Bamiyan , on the website of the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich , accessed on November 6, 2009.
  4. ↑ a b c d Carlotta Gall: Afghans consider rebuilding Bamiyan Buddhas - Asia-Pacific-International Herald Tribune , on: New York Times website, November 5, 2006, accessed June 27, 2009.
  5. ↑ a b c d Zemaryalai Tarzi, Nadia Tarzi, Abdul Wasey Feroozi: The Impact of War upon Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage , PDF file; 8.8 MB, with high resolution images or PDF file; 434 kB, lower resolution , from: Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) website, pp. 8–12, March 2004, accessed June 28, 2009.
  6. ↑ Kosaku Maeda: The Mural Paintings of the Buddhas of Bamiyan: Description and Conservation Operations. In: Juliette van Krieken-Pieters (Ed.): Art and Archeology of Afghanistan - Its Fall and Survival. Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden 2006, ISBN 90-04-15182-6 ( Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 8 Uralic & Central Asian Studies. Volume 14), p. 130.
  7. ↑ a b Zemaryalai Tarzi (interview by Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty): Afghanistan: Archeologist Hunts For Third Bamiyan Buddha , March 10, 2006, rferl.org accessed on June 28, 2009.
  8. ↑ a b Nadia Tarzi: Tarzi on Tarzi: Afghanistan's Plight and the Search for the Third Buddha. In: Juliette van Krieken-Pieters (Ed.): Art and Archeology of Afghanistan - Its Fall and Survival. Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden 2006, ISBN 90-04-15182-6 ( Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 8 Uralic & Central Asian Studies. Volume 14). Pp. 150-154.
  9. ↑ Paul Clammer: Afghanistan. 2007, p. 116 (English).
  10. ↑ Ludwig W. Adamec: Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan. Lanham, 2012, p. 190.
  11. ↑ Conrad Schetter: Ethnicity and ethnic conflicts in Afghanistan. Berlin 2003, p. 220 ff.
  12. ^ Hans-Hasso von Veltheim-Ostrau: Diaries from Asia. First part: Bombay, Calcutta, Kashmir, Afghanistan, the Himalayas, Nepal, Benares. 1935-1939. Claassen-Verlag, Hamburg 1956. p. 236 ff.
  13. ^ Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage (SPACH): Threat to Bamiyan Buddhas , in Newsletter of the Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage, May 1999, p. 6 f. (PDF) Archived from the original on July 14, 2014 ; accessed on November 29, 2015 .
  14. ^ Society for the Preservation Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage (SPACH): Bamiyan Buddha damaged. In: SPACH Newsletter. No. 5 ( Memento of July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 443 kB), May 5, 1999, pp. 21–22, accessed on October 21, 2009.
  15. ↑ Kosaku Maeda: The Mural Paintings , p. 143.
  16. ↑ Michael Falser: The Buddhas of Bamiyan, performative iconoclasm and the “image” of cultural heritage. In: Culture and Terror: Journal for Cultural Studies. Volume 1/2010, pp. 82-93.
  17. ^ Christian Manhart: UNESCO's Rehabilitation of Afghanistans Cultural Heritage: Mandate and Recent Activities. In: Juliette van Krieken-Pieters (Ed.): Art and Archeology of Afghanistan - Its Fall and Survival. Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden 2006, ISBN 90-04-15182-6 ( Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 8 Uralic & Central Asian Studies. Volume 14), pp. 51-54.
  18. ↑ a b Zémaryalaï Tarzi: Professor Tarzi's Survey and Excavation Archaeological Mission, 2003 , on site silkroadfoundation.org , accessed on June 20 of 2009.
  19. ↑ Ron Synovitz: Archaeologists Find Giant 'Sleeping' Buddha In Afghanistan , on: Radio Free Europe website , September 9, 2008, accessed June 20, 2009.
  20. ↑ AFP: Afghan researchers discover the Buddha lying near Bamijan ( memento from January 25, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), on Google News , September 8, 2008, accessed on June 20, 2009.
  21. ↑ Hannah Bloch: PHOTOS: Searching for Afghanistan's Third Giant Buddha. In: National Geographic . Online, June 10, 2009, description in Photo 6 and Photo 11, accessed on June 20, 2009.
  22. ^ Christian Manhart: UNESCO's Rehabilitation of Afghanistans Cultural Heritage: Mandate and Recent Activities. In: Juliette van Krieken-Pieters (Ed.): Art and Archeology of Afghanistan - Its Fall and Survival. Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden 2006, ISBN 90-04-15182-6 ( Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 8 Uralic & Central Asian Studies. Volume 14), pp. 50 + 52.
  23. ↑ Thailand wants to rebuild Buddha statues by Bamiyan. On Wikinews (based on: n-tv.de, swissinfo.ch, Daily India, Bangkok Post ), June 19, 2006, accessed on October 21, 2009.
  24. ↑ Kay Sadrinna: “The Swiss want to rebuild Buddha statues in Afghanistan” ( Memento from January 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Netzeitung , November 20, 2001, accessed on June 20, 2009.
  25. ^ Armin Grün, Fabio Remondino, Li Zhang ( ETH Zurich ): Photogrammetric Reconstruction of the Great Buddha of Bamiyan, Afghanistan. (PDF, 1.09 MB) September 2004, archived from the original on December 15, 2011 ; Retrieved June 27, 2009 .
  26. ↑ Sabine Busse (i. A.), press release from RWTH Aachen: The fifth UNESCO / ICOMOS Bamiyan expert group met at RWTH Aachen ( memento of November 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), on RWTH Aachen website , last change March 22 2007, accessed June 27, 2009.
  27. ↑ Safeguarding of the Bamiyan site, Phase I. UNESCO World Heritage Center, accessed January 20, 2013 .
  28. ↑ Yuriko Wahl: Blown Buddha statues from Bamian - reconstruction “not feasible”. In: ntv .de. March 11, 2011, accessed February 13, 2012 .

Coordinates: 34 ° 49 ′ 55.3 "  N , 67 ° 49 ′ 36.2"  E