New exhibition in Kabul

Last week a new exhibition opened at the National Museum in Kabul, Afghanistan (see Voice of America article here). This marks the first major exhibition in a very long time at the museum and a turning point for the future of the institution. Plans for a new museum building are in the works, so stay tuned for more exciting things!

Check out this video from the exhibition opening (courtesy of VoA):



The exhibition is based on current excavations at Mes Aynak, an ancient Buddhist monastery site that sits atop one of the largest untapped copper ores in the world. French and Afghan archaeologists are racing against time, however, as they only have around 3 years to complete the project before a Chinese company opens a mine at Mes Aynak. A controversial project to be sure, and for many reasons: a) the site is huge and will take much longer than a few years to excavate, but b) the Afghan economy is struggling so profits from the mine are much needed, BUT c) memories of the Bamyan Buddhas, destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, are still fresh and people are afraid history will repeat itself at Mes Aynak.

It is a classic case of heritage vs. modern development. A similar story is echoed in various dam projects around the world like in China, where the building of the Three Gorges Dam flooded thousands of archaeological sites. Similar damming projects in Turkey have realized similar results: flooding of archaeological sites and the displacement of thousands of people, many of them from their ancestral homes. Do we have to have development at the expense of cultural heritage? Is improvement of human lives (say from increased energy and jobs like with the dams) more important than the preservation of history?