Scientists Map Out Destroyed Afghan Buddha in Preparation for Reconstruction

TBO.com ^ | 11/13/03 | Naomi Koppel

[kattracks]

GENEVA (AP) - Swiss-based scientists have created a model of a huge Buddha statue destroyed by the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and said they hope it will be used to rebuild the ancient figure. The team used 30-year-old photographs and special software to build the three-dimensional model, which represents the larger of two standing Buddhas the hardline Islamic group blew up with dynamite in March 2001.

International outcry followed the destruction of the giant Buddhas, which were chiseled into the cliff more than 1,500 years ago in Bamiyan Valley on the ancient Silk Route linking Europe and Central Asia.

The fundamentalist Taliban considered them "idolatrous" and against the tenets of Islam.

The larger Buddha was 174 feet high. The team is now working on mapping the other statue, which was about 125 feet tall and stood about a half-mile away, said Professor Armin Gruen, a member of the team based at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

"This is a beautiful area, and it could develop into a major tourist attraction if the Buddhas could be put back in place," Gruen said Wednesday.

Rebuilding the Buddhas at their original location would cost around $30 million each, he said. Most likely, the recreation would be made of concrete covered with plaster.

Gruen stressed that the money for the project should be independent of aid for rebuilding infrastructure in Afghanistan.

"We believe there are enough private people in the world that have strong ties to Buddhism who would be prepared to donate the money if they had the approval of UNESCO," he said.

UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization, has been discussing what to do about the Buddhas. Some experts support rebuilding them; others say they should be left as they are, because destruction also is part of a country's cultural heritage.

Gruen argues that reconstruction is an accepted practice, giving the example of his native Germany after World War II.

"If you go to German cities nowadays, it's all reconstructed," he said. "Reconstruction in the Western world is quite normal, is going on everywhere. Why should it not be going on in Afghanistan as well?"

To build the model, Gruen's team used details from three photographs and programmed a milling machine to create a polyurethane image 200 times smaller than the original - and accurate to within a half-inch.

The team is now working on a replica one-tenth of the original, or about 17 1/2 feet high. That model should be completed by next spring and will go on display at the Kabul Museum, which is being rebuilt.

"We have to wait until there is at least a roof on the museum before putting in the Buddha," Gruen said.

[Khurkris]

Buddhas coming back Baby!

Buddha laughing as Taliban hides.

Buddha smiles in Valley again.

[KC_Conspirator]

Yes, islam's heritage produces alot of rubble.

I can't believe some idiot said that. Sounds like some multi-cultural professor.

[Wolverine]

[shhrubbery!]

"If you go to German cities nowadays, it's all reconstructed," [Gruen] said.

Professor Gruen isn't quite right.

There is still the bombed-out Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche in the center of Berlin to remind Germans of the terrible consequences of the war that had to be fought against Naziism.

So there is a precedent for this idea. But OTOH, leaving the Buddhas destroyed would probably be the wrong message to send the Taliban.

[SunkenCiv]

A blast from the past, added to the list at last.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
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[SunkenCiv]

related topics:

Find Stirs Sleeping Buddha Talk
Washington Times | 12-4-2004 | Maseeh Rahman
Posted on 12/04/2004 11:41:00 AM PST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1294407/posts

Mission secures Buddhas of Bamiyan site in Afghanistan
Pak Tribune | 12/30/04
Posted on 12/29/2004 10:27:39 PM PST by Straight Vermonter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1310737/posts

Marines, Sailors Describe Ambush in Afghanistan
Defend America News | 01/12/04 | U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Rich Mattingly
Posted on 01/12/2005 4:18:01 PM PST by SandRat
(nice photo of the cliff-face in the distance)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1319565/posts?page=30#30

marginally related topic:

Did Israel's Lost Tribes end up in Afghanistan?
Reuters | 03 FEB 2002 | Tom Heneghan
Posted on 02/02/2002 9:22:59 PM PST by CommiesOut
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/620860/posts

[SunkenCiv]

Ryukoku University team to explore rare Buddhist ruins in Afghanistan
by Tai Kawabata
Friday, March 4, 2005

Ryukoku University, a Buddhist school in Kyoto, and Afghanistan's National Institute of Archaeology have signed an accord to survey and excavate newly found Buddhist relics lying west of the famed Bamiyan ruins that were destroyed by the Taliban... The two large Buddhist statues carved into the mountainside in Bamiyan, one 55 meters tall and the other 38 meters, were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001... The Keligan ruins include a temple 58 meters long and 47 meters wide and Chehel Burj is a square fortress, each side 100 meters long... Chehel Burj literally means 40 towers.

Thanks Shermy, for the link.

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[ApplegateRanch]

Rebuilding the Buddhas at their original location would cost around $30 million each, he said. Most likely, the recreation would be made of concrete covered with plaster.

I detest them for saying that they are rebuilding the statues.

They are constructing replicas.

The statues are destroyed, and anything they build will be modern, Disneyland knock-off copies, no matter how well done. They will also be streching their limits to survive 'in the wild' for 1/10 as long as the originals stood without 'maintanence & repair'.

[SunkenCiv]

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