Introduction
Buddha’s of Bamiyan are standing monumental statues on the cliff of Bamiyan valley in Hazarajat of Afghanistan. It represented Gandhara art designs and styles. The Taliban dynamited and destroyed statues in 2011 as ordered by the Mullah Mohammed Omar when the government announced that they were idols. The statues were carved more than 1,500 years ago when Buddhism thrived in this valley along the Silk Road. The religion has long vanished in Afghanistan, but the people of Bamiyan took pride in monuments. Regardless of world-wide criticism, the Taliban ruled the monuments with explosives and blustered them up in the spring of 2001 since they deliberated them un-Islamic thus idols.
The nationalistic purposes of the archeology
The statue lied on the Silk Road which has been historically connecting the western world and China; it favored trade for both the continents. The site has also been the center of religion, art and philosophy. The Buddhist monasteries had monks who lived as hermits, and they embellished their caves with religious statuary and inserted many colors. The two tall standing statues were the largest examples of standing Buddha in the world hence acted as the cultural landmarks in the world. The UNESCO listed it as the most important world heritage site along with the landscape of the area plus the archeological remnants in the valley.
It has acted as the tourist attraction for a very long time, many people around the globe would like to go and check what the statues look like. UNESCO, which is accountable for protection this World Heritage site requested the restorers to build a podium to shelter visitors from falling rocks at the place of the smaller of the two Buddha. It attracted many visitors from various parts of the world.
Ways in which nationalistic interests influence the way archaeology is undertaken
Most countries those were conversant with the stature where against its destruction. Organizations like UNESCO were very ready to help the Afghanistan country to rebuild and remodel the broken parts of the statue. The debated brick pillars with feet like foundations were constructed by German restorers with the Global Council on Monuments and Sites. The UNESCO body that is accountable for protection and preservation of this World Legacy site invited the restorers to construct the platform. The destruction of the statues is almost assured to lead to even greater blame and the segregation of the Taliban by the universal community. In January, the United Nations Security Council enacted sanctions on the Taliban.
The reaction of the UN organization chaired by Kofi Annan went ahead to request the prime minister of Afghanistan to stop the demolition. The demolition could cost Afghanistan a lot of money to reconstruct and the UN bodies were not ready to fund. Countries like Japan were willing to offer assistance by lifting these bodies to their country. The people of the Afghanistan were also against the demolition.
Importance of Archaeology national governments
The statues were cultural centers of the Afghanistan; it protected the cliffs from falling. The cliffs acted as the worldwide landmark, and the Afghanistan nation was known for that. The tall standing cliffs attracted tourist from all corners of the world hence served as the source of income to the government of the Afghanistan. Finally, the UNESCO acknowledged the valley as world heritage site and archaeologists invested on it. It was placed where many things were discovered like two huge empty caverns and a mass of debris besieged with unexploded mines.
Conclusion
The destruction of two standing statues by the government of Afghanistan resulted in negative reputations and sanctions to the country. The UN and UNESCO were not ready to offer support to rebuilding it. The blustering was as a result of the suspicion from government that the statues served as worshiping place of Buddhism, which was against Islamic religion.
