NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KABUL

«A nation remains alive when its culture remains alive». This is what can be read on a plaque in front of the entrance of this museum founded in 1919. It gradually revives from its ashes, after being almost completely looted during the civil war. Some 2 000 pieces were reportedly destroyed by the Taliban, because they belonged to Buddhist art. Among other things, there is a beautiful collection of Greek-Buddhist art, wooden statues and excavated stone along the silk road or dishwashers dating from 2000 years before our age in south Baghlan; or some amazing wooden statues of Nuristan, which miraculously escaped Taliban vandalism and were restored to help Austrian experts; or this treasure developed by the DAFA between 1937 and 1939 at Bagram, 60 km north of Kabul. On the site of the former Alexandria of the Caucasus, archaeologists found in these chambers a set of parts (ivories, lacquers, glasses) with hellenistique influences, but also Chinese and Indian. Many explanatory panels are translated into English and French (the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan has contributed significantly to the enrichment of museum collections).