History

The two Buddhas were carved during the Gandharan cultural period, the larger (Salsal) dated to 554 AD and the smaller (Shamama) to 507 AD. The Bamiyan valley was a major node on the Silk Road linking China and Central Asia with India and the Mediterranean; pilgrims from across the Buddhist world travelled here. The Chinese monk Xuanzang documented his visit in 630 AD, describing the valley and the gold-decorated Buddhas. Their niches were originally painted in elaborate patterns of red, white, and blue; remnants of the pigment survive in sheltered areas of the cliff. The figures wore painted garments and may have held painted or gilded wooden features.

Islam reached the region in the 7th century. Over subsequent centuries, Bamiyan changed rulers repeatedly — Abbasid, Samanid, Ghaznavid, Ghurid, Mongol, Timurid, Mughal — but the Buddhas survived. Genghis Khan’s forces sacked the valley in the 13th century; the Buddhas stood. The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb reportedly ordered cannon fire at the figures in the 17th century; the faces were damaged, the bodies remained. When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in the 1990s under Mullah Omar, the statues were initially left in place. In February 2001, Mullah Omar issued an edict declaring all non-Islamic statues idolatrous and ordering their destruction. A delegation of representatives from Muslim-majority countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Iran travelled to Kandahar to urge reconsideration. The Taliban rejected them.

The destruction began in early March 2001. Anti-aircraft guns and artillery had limited effect on the Buddhas’ scale; the Taliban then placed dynamite charges in holes drilled into the statues, supplemented with rockets and mines. The smaller Buddha was destroyed first, the larger required repeated detonations over several days. The Taliban filmed the process and distributed the recordings as propaganda. On 9 March 2001, both niches were empty. The rubble — hundreds of tonnes of sandstone — accumulated at the cliff base. Approximately 1,500 years of continuous existence ended in about two weeks.

UNESCO inscribed the Bamiyan Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains as a World Heritage Site in 2003 — deliberately after the destruction, citing the remaining cliff caves, painted chambers, and the historical significance of the niches themselves as heritage worthy of protection. Technical teams from TU Munich subsequently created detailed 3D laser scan reconstructions of both Buddhas from archive photographs and surface measurements. One proposal, backed by UNESCO and the Afghan government, would use original fragments cemented with lime mortar to partially reconstruct one Buddha in a technique called anastylosis; this project has not moved forward under the current Taliban government.