Bamiyan Valley In Afghanistan - BEFORE & AFTER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bamiyan lies on the Silk Road, which runs through the Hindu Kush mountain region, in the Bamiyan Valley. The Silk Road has been historically a caravan route linking the markets of China with those of the Western world. It was the site of several Buddhist monasteries, and a thriving center for religion, philosophy, and art. Monks at the monasteries lived as hermits in small caves carved into the side of the Bamiyan cliffs. Most of these monks embellished their caves with religious statuary and elaborate, brightly colored frescoes. It was a Buddhist religious site from the 2nd century up to the time of the Islamic invasion in the later half of the 7th century. Until it was completely conquered by the Muslim Saffarids in the 9th century, Bamiyan shared the culture of Gandhara. The Buddhas of Bamiyan was 6th century monumental statues of standing Buddha carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamwam valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, northwest of Kabul. Built in 554 AD, the statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art. The main bodies were hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs, but details were modeled in mud mixed with straw, coated with stucco. This coating, practically all of which wore away long ago, was painted to enhance the expressions of the faces, hands and folds of the robes. The lower parts of the statues arms were constructed from the same mud-straw mix while supported on wooden armatures. It is believed that the upper parts of their faces were made from great wooden masks or casts. Rows of holes that can be seen in photographs were spaces that held wooden pegs that stabilized the outer stucco. Sadly, they were dynamited and destroyed in March 2001 by the Taliban, on orders from leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, after the Taliban government declared that they were idols. As in the case of Bamiyan, Afghanistan, where the remains of antiquity still remained a wonder to the Buddhist from all over the world.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 05:39:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015