Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul

Archaeological masterpieces from the National Museum of Afghanistan were long thought to have been lost during the years of turbulence and war that followed the Soviet invasion of 1979. Instead, most had been secretly hidden in crates in the Central Bank within the presidential palace in Kabul. In 2004 the crates were opened, bringing to light the works of art that had remarkably survived. This exhibition presents highlights from the museums collection and reveals the exotic influences and local artistic traditions that shaped the art of northern Afghanistan, known as Bactria in antiquity.

The works on view span Afghan history from 22OO BC to the second century AD and come from four archaeological sites:

- the Bronze Age site of Tepe Fullol

- the Greco-Bactrian city of Aï Khanum

- the trading settlement of Begram, which flourished in the first and second centuries AD

- the roughly contemporary necropolis of Tillya Tepe, where a nomadic chieftain and members of his household were buried with thousands of gold objects and ornaments, many inlaid with turquoise, lapis lazuli, or other semiprecious stones.

 

• c. 4500 BC: Agricultural settlements appear in the foothills of the Hindu Kush Mountains
• c. 4000 BC : Lapiz lazuli, gold, and tin are exported to India, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean world.
• c. 2200 BC: Bronze Age begins in northern Afghanistan
• c. 2000 BC: gold objects are buried at he site of Tepe Fullol.

 

 

• 519 BC: Cyrus the Great conquers Afghanistan, which becomes part of the Persian Empire. An inscription recording Cyrus' conquests is the first know use of the name Bactria to denote northern Afghanistan.
• 334-323 BC: Alexander the Great conquers the Persan empire, reaching Afghanistan around 328 BC. Balkh, the capital of Bactria, is governed by Alexander's successors.
• c. 300 BC: Greco-Bactrian city of Aï Khanum is founded by followers of Alexander the Great

 

• c. 145 BC: Nomads from the northern steppes overrun Afghanistan. Nomadic chieftain and five women are buried with gold ornaments at Tillya Tepe
• c. 50 AD: Begram becomes a major settlement along trade routes between China, India and the Mediterranean

These elaborate hair ornaments (gold, turquoise, garnet, lapis lazuli, garnelian and pearl) depict a man wearing the tunic and flowing pants typical of nomadic dress. He holds two dragon-like creatures by their forelegs, a mythic scene known from ancient Persian and Siberian art that suggests power and invincibility. Most unusually, these pendants are completely finished on both front and back.

 

• c. 375 AD: Monumental Buddhist sculptures begin to be carved at Bamiyan
• c. 850 AD: Arrival of Islam
• 1220: Gengis Khan destroys Balkh

 

• 1936-39: Begram is excavated by French archaeologists

 

• 1965-78: Aï Khanum is excavated by French archaeologists
• 1978-79: Burials at Tillya Tepe are excavated by a Soviet-Afghan team of archaeologists
• 1979: The Soviets invade Afghanistan; scientific excavations there end
• 1988: Masterpieces from the National Museum hidden in the Central Bank at he presidential palace in Kabul

 

 

• 1992-95: National Museum is looted and destroyed during years of civil war
• 1996: Taliban take control of Afghanistan
• 2001: Bamiyan sculptures are destroyed by the Taliban, who are overthrown months later
• 2004: Crates in he Central Bank of the presidential palace vaults are opened, revealing the works of art from the museum intact

 

National Gallery of Art, Washington