With the collaboration of the European Association of South Asian Archaeology and Art and Universitat Pompeu Fabra, this afternoon at 6pm, Casa Asia presents a round table discussion entitled Afghanistan’s heritage: current challenges and perspectives, at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Campus Ciutadella (c/ de Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27, Barcelona). The event can also be followed via streaming. The event is in English without translation service. Registration is required.
Afghanistan, epicentre of the ancient Silk Roads, has been a crossroads of cultures since time immemorial. Its unique cultural heritage reflects a history marked by a complex web of contacts between Achaemenid Persia, Alexandrian Greece, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. However, after decades of armed conflict, much of its important heritage has lived under constant threat of looting or destruction. The Buddhas of Bamiyan were dynamited by the Taliban in March 2001. In the Kabul Museum, entire collections of sculptures suffered the same fate. Important archaeological sites were and are subject to ongoing looting. However, despite the persistent difficulty of living in a war environment, the efforts of the Ministry of Culture in the last decade seem to have brought about a change of trend, establishing international collaborations that have given rise to important projects in the field of research and training for a better protection and enhancement of heritage.
The event will be presented by Rafael Bueno, director of Policy, Society and Educational Programmes, Casa Asia, and there will be a dialogue with Noor Agha Noori, director of the Archaeological Institute of Afghanistan (IAA) from March 2017 to September 2021, currently a refugee in Berlin; Deborah Klimburg-Salter, art historian and professor emeritus of non-European art history in the Department of Art History at the University of Vienna and associate professor in the Department of South Asian Studies at Harvard University; Natasha Kimmet, researcher in art history at the University of Vienna, specialising in the art and architecture of South Asia, Tibet and the Himalayas, and Mònica López-Prat, curator-restorer of cultural heritage and lecturer in the Department of Art and Conservation of Cultural Heritage at the University of Barcelona.
