|
|
|
Seven Key, Seven Locks and
|
|
|
War and destruction are not the way a country wishes to be known. Afghanistan, cornerstone of the current war has a fascinating history. So to is the history of the safe guarding of many priceless cultural items : seven locks, seven keys and one brilliant and brave and brilliant museum director: Omar Khan Massoudi. |
To save a country's treasures from looting during war many are put underground or hidden; like the Crown Jewels of England during the Second World War. The Russian invasion of 1979 had a profound impact on the culture and economy of Afghanistan which spiralled after the invaders left and the Taliban took power.
Title: Belt
Afghanistan, Tillya-tepe, grave IV, Second quarter of the 1st century AD.,
Medium: Gold
Dimensions: 5.2 x 2.0 cm
Permanent Collection: National Museum of Afghanistan
© musée Guimet/Thierry Ollivier
Image Courtesy: De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam
In 1988 the National Museum of Kabul, under the auspices of it's Director Omar Khan Massoudi arranged for the key portions of it's collections to be hidden. The works in this exhibit were taken to the Central Bank vaults that were located in the Presidential Palace. Naturally this had to be done with the utmost secrecy.
How Massoudi achieved this is nothing short of genius.
Seven Keys, Seven Locks, Seven Vaults
Title: Crown
Afghanistan, Tillya-tepe, grave VI, Second quarter of the 1st century AD.
Medium: Gold, imitation turquoise
Dimensions: 45.0 x 13.0 cm
Permanent Collection: National Museum of Afghanistan
© musée Guimet/Thierry Ollivier
Image Courtesy: De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam
Massoudi hid the treasure in seven trunks at the Central Bank of Kabul. The trunks were protected by a steel gate with seven locks requiring seven different keys. Each key was held by a separate person with a pact that should a keyholder died the key was to be given to his eldest son.
In hindsight this was a wise decision for the Taliban regime decried all images were to be destroyed, this happened in 2001. The massive Buddhas of Bamiyan were blow-up captured on television horrifying the world witnessing the destruction of such important cultural items. The National Museum lost 2,500 works of art as a result of the Taliban's edict.
Title: Blue vessel with motif in resille
Afghanistan, Begram, project II, chamber 10, 1st century AD.
Medium: Blown glass
Dimensions: H 17.7 cm; Ø 7.3 cm
Permanent Collection: National Museum of Afghanistan
© musée Guimet/Thierry Ollivier
Image Courtesy: De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam
One of the goals of Hidden Afghanistan is to look at the history of the National Museum of Kabul. It was first opened to the public in 1922 and at one point held over 100,000 objects in it's permanent collection.
Title: Hermes pillar
Afghanistan, Ai Khanum, Gymnasium, 2nd century BC.
Medium: Limestone
Dimensions: 77 cm
Permanent Collection: National Museum of Afghanistan
© musée Guimet/Thierry Ollivier
Image Courtesy: De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam
Amsterdam's Nieuwe Kerk hosts Hidden Afghanistan presenting 250 objects that were found in 2004 in the Central Bank vaults in Kabul. They were removed from Afghanistan in 2006 for restoration and to allow for this exciting traveling exhibition.
Located strategically on the trade routes between the East and the West many cultures left their mark on Afghanistan, which led to a rich kaleidoscope of archeological discoveries, of which four are key : Tepe Fullol, Ai Khanum, Tillya-tepe, and Begram.
Four Key Archeological Sites in Afghanistan
Title: Disc showing Cybele
Afghanistan, Ai Khanum, Temple of the niches, 3rd century BC.
Medium: Gilded silver
Dimensions: 25 cm
Permanent Collection: National Museum of Afghanistan
© musée Guimet/Thierry Ollivier
Image Courtesy: De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam
Tepe Fullol, dating from the Bactrian Bronze Age of approximately 2000 BC.
Ai Khanum, which was a city founded by Greeks following Alexander the Great’s conquest featuring Hellenism on the edge of the steppes in the 4th to 2nd centuries BC timeframe.
Gold treasures of Tillya-tepe that hail from six graves from the 1st century AD. These were excavated in 1979 by a Soviet-Afghan team led by the Russian archaeologist Sarianidi.
Two sealed chambers in Begram were excavated both in 1937 and 1939 and provide elaborate Indian furniture, ivory, glass, vases and plaster emblemata of Hellenist origin dating from the 1st century AD.
Title: Bowl with Geometric motifs
Afghanistan, Tepe Fullol, Bronze Age: circa 2100-2000 BC.
Medium: Gold
Dimensions: 9.9 cm
Permanent Collection: National Museum of Afghanistan
© musée Guimet/Thierry Ollivier
Image Courtesy: De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam
Highlights of the exhibition are the gold pieces. Hidden Afghanistan includes an impressive gold collection from Tillya-Tepe.
Hidden Afghanistan
De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam:
through April 20, 2008
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC:
May 25 - September 7, 2008
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco:
October 17, 2008 - January 9, 2009
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston:
February 22 - May 17, 2009
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York:
June 15 – September 20, 2009