 |
 |
|
|||||
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|||
 |
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
 |
|
||||||
 |
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
"A museum's archaeological artifacts," he says, "aren't just a repository for scholars and specialists. Museums are storehouses of a people's cultural heritage. They give its people a sense of dignity, and express that its history and traditions are valued. Obviously, Afghanistan needs humanitarian aid...food, medicine, and rebuilding of the infrastructure. But alongside material aid, a museum preserving their cultural heritage provides humanitarian aid in the sense of helping to restore the human dignity of a war-torn people. " I asked if Afghanistan deserved to reclaim its lost heritage. "It would be shameful if individuals in the west took advantage of lawlessness and war to acquire archaeological artifacts for their private collections. Artifacts belong to their countries of origin, and are for their people's benefit. This is a universally recognized moral code among archaeologists... but it's hard to enforce. Seldom are artifacts returned since governments are reluctant to press charges against their own citizens on behalf of another country." Afghanistan was a crossroads of central Asian trade for thousands of years. Its National Museum contained over 50,000 years of Persian, Indian, Chinese, Central Asian, Greco-Roman and Bactrian history. But war with the Soviets meant the destruction of many of the most prized excavated works. Shelled, bombed, caught in the crossfire. During the Post-Soviet Mujahidin Government of 1992 to 1996, three rival factions squared off at the crossroads of the National Museum of Kabul. In May 1993, the museum was shelled repeatedly. Rockets destroyed the top floor; incinerating murals, toppling coin cabinets, burning documents. One rocket melted the museum's support beams, causing the ornate vaulted ceiling to collapse.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||
|
 |
|||||||
)
){kind=link}