An online journal about visual art, the urban landscape and design. Mary Louise Schumacher, the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic, leads the discussion and a community of writers contribute to the dialogue.
Hidden treasures from Kabul, Afghanistan, at the Met
When a country’s cultural heritage is stolen and destroyed, it’s more than the loss of beautiful objects, it’s also the loss of identity and national pride. Think if America’s treasures were suddenly gone – no Statue of Liberty, no Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington, no Frederic Remington sculpture. When the Taliban dynamited the Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in Afghanistan’s Bamyan Valley in 2001, Afghans lost a cultural icon that had stood sentinel since the 6th century A.D.
So when Afghan officials opened a secret vault several years ago in the capital of Kabul and looked into crates containing more than 20,000 pieces of Bactrian gold excavated shortly before the 1979 Russian invasion, there was a sense of relief and pride. Relief that the Taliban had not found it and melted it down to sell for weapons as well as pride that a significant and beautiful part of the embattled country’s cultural heritage had survived.
"Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul" opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in June. When it closes Sept. 20, the exhibit, which has also stopped in Washington, D.C., Houston and San Francisco, will leave the United States.
The exhibit reflects Afghanistan’s pivotal role as the crossroad of major trading routes which collectively has been called the Silk Road. There was no single road but numerous pathways that crossed over the mountains and across the plains linking Greece and then Rome with India and Asia and the artifacts reflect the interaction of cultures. Because of the great distances on the Silk Road, objects necessarily were small and valuable.
The gold artifacts unearthed at burial chambers of nomads dating from 1st century A.D. in Tillya Tepe are stunning – a collapsible gold crown, a dagger handle and sheath, buckles, earrings, rings and tiny appliqués which were found laid out on the bodies. Drawings near each exhibit show what the person was likely wearing at the time of burial.
There are also artifacts like stone columns and a sun dial discovered at the ancient city of Ai Khanum, founded as a Greek colony after Alexander the Great conquered Bactria; delicately carved ivories designed to decorate furniture from the city of Begram; and Roman drinking glasses still featuring brightly painted scenes of women harvesting figs.
Perhaps it’s telling that what’s called the Bactrian Hoard will not be immediately displayed in Afghanistan after the show closes at the Met. Authorities there say they’re building a new secure museum for the gold but given the violence and upheaval in Kabul, I doubt Afghans will be able to see their country’s treasures for awhile. I hope Afghanistan will some day soon be a place where delicate treasures like a princess’ folding gold crown, golden shoe buckles adorned with turquoise, a glass flask in the shape of a fish and antelope-shaped gold bracelets can be seen by anyone.
(Note from Mary Louise: Many of you know my colleague Meg Jones for her coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What is perhaps less known about Meg is the fact that she is an intrepid traveler who seeks out art experiences. She went to New York expressly to see this exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum, and I am delighted to be able to share her unique perspective on this show with you.)
Image identifications, from top: Folding Crown, 1st century AD; pair of clasps with Dionysos and Ariadne, 1st century AD; Female standing on a mythological creature, 1st - 2nd century AD. Photo: Thierrey Ollivier/ Musee Guimet.