An ordinary courtyard and a small, inconspicuous two-story building are home to the National Museum of Afghanistan. Since the Taliban entered the capital Kabul in August, the National Museum of Afghanistan has experienced a brief closure and has recently reopened to local and foreign visitors.
The Global Times special correspondent recently, accompanied by Mohammed Yahya Mokhbuzada, deputy director of the National Museum of Afghanistan, visited the museum exclusively and saw many collections that retain Afghan cultural memories.
On the cold weekend, due to the weather, there were not many visitors, the steps to enter the museum were not complicated, and the entrance was garrisoned by gun-wielding Taliban personnel, responsible for the security of the museum. Hearing that it was a visitor from China, the Taliban officers greeted warmly and nodded and smiled at the Global Times special reporter.
Tickets are cheap, domestic visitors fare 20 arni (about 1.3 yuan), foreign visitors 100 arni (about 6.5 yuan), if you need to take pictures, the ticket price doubles. After purchasing your tickets, you can enter the museum through the security gate.
According to Mukhbuzada, for Afghans who have been in turmoil, visiting museums is a big expense, but people are willing to pay money to visit and learn about Afghanistan's history, and they are proud of their culture. "Afghanistan's economy is not good now, and tickets are a big burden for locals, but there are still many Afghans who will come to learn about the splendid culture and history." Just yesterday, we hosted a team of 150 college students. ”
From Buddha heads to oil paintings
On the stone stele at the entrance of the main building of the museum, the English inscription "A nation stays alive when its culture stays alive", which means "culture prospers the existence of the country". Located at the intersection of Eastern and Western civilizations, Afghanistan has collided and merged in the past thousand years of history, leaving an unparalleled cultural crystal.
However, years of war have caused great harm to the protection of Afghanistan's cultural heritage, especially the National Museum of Afghanistan, and a large number of cultural relics have been stolen, looted and destroyed.
Now with the Taliban government back in power, everything is slowly improving. The Taliban Government has made an open commitment to the international community to respect different cultures and to actively protect its cultural heritage.
In addition to the remains of Islamic culture, Global Times reporters also admired the statues, Buddhist portraits and Buddha heads of king Of the Kushan Empire, the "treasure of the town hall", as well as fragments of silver bowls with a history of 5,000 years.
Mukhbuzada stressed that these collections document Afghanistan's splendid and colorful culture and highlight its characteristics as a place where civilizations meet.
In particular, Hindu deities are also on display. The doctrine of Hindu polytheism is clearly contrary to the Taliban monotheism, which shows the Taliban government's positive and open cultural attitude, which does not impose any restrictions on the collection and exhibition of museums.
Oil paintings by Afghan painters, traditional screens from China, and porcelain from the Qing Dynasty are on display.
All funding comes from the Taliban
Mukhbuzada recalled to the Global Times that the Taliban entered the capital at that time, "it was relatively calm, the museum was taken over by the Taliban the next day, and all staff were not allowed to enter." ”
A month later, the Taliban returned management authority to the museum and arranged security personnel for the museum. "In the process, the museum has not been damaged in any way, and the collection has not been lost."
The National Museum of Afghanistan is small, and the number of collections on display in the limited space is not large, and most of the collections are still stored in the basement. For security reasons, some national treasures are still stored in the Presidential Palace.
"The museum now has more than eighty staff, including female staff, all of whom are managed by the Taliban government and paid salaries," Mukhbuzada told reporters. There are currently no channels for receiving assistance from international organizations. ”
Thanks to our Chinese counterparts
In order to protect the precious cultural relics that survived the war, the National Museum of Afghanistan has selected a number of heavyweight collections and began a fourteen-year global tour in October 2006, passing through more than ten countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States and China.
In March 2017, the national treasures debuted at the Palace Museum, with the theme of the exhibition "Heavy Light in the Fire", which means that after the trials of the Afghan war and national turmoil, they were reborn and reappeared. Since then, until 2019, the national treasures have been exhibited in Dunhuang, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Shenzhen, Changsha and other places in China.
Mukhbuzada recalls visiting many Chinese cities with the exhibits at that time, "I was very impressed with China, and I exchanged a lot of experience with my Chinese counterparts at that time and thanked them for their support for the exhibits." ”
Now on the shelves of his office, Mukhbuzada prominently displays the honorary certificate awarded to him by the Hunan Provincial Museum, which bears witness to the efforts and achievements of cultural exchanges between China and Afghanistan.
Faced with the dilemmas and problems facing the protection of cultural relics in Afghanistan, Wang Xudong, president of the Palace Museum, invited well-known scholars at home and abroad to jointly issue a public initiative in November, calling on the international community to increase the protection of Afghanistan's cultural heritage.
Shan Jixiang, former president of the Palace Museum and president of the Chinese Cultural Relics Society, once told the Global Times that China is more actively involved in the protection of international cultural heritage and is willing to play a more important role in protecting Afghanistan's cultural relics. It is hoped that through practical cooperation between museums and the spirit of international cooperation, the cultural relics of Afghanistan will be better protected.
Global Times-Global Network report Special reporter Yu Yong reporter Lou Kang Xu Liu Liu