The Ministry of Culture and Information is planning to repair the cultural heritage sites that are on the brink of collapse in the northern province of Balkh, an Islamic Emirate official said.
The head of the Balkh department of information and culture, Zabiullah Noori, said that they would repair the damaged cultural heritage areas.
“The department of information and culture of Balkh in cooperation with some organizations including the Agha Khan Foundation will consider repairing the cultural heritage areas that need it,” he said.
Khwaja Parsa mosque is a historic location in Balkh district of the province. The seminary of Bahāʼ al-Dīn Valad, the father of alāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Balkhi, is another revered historic place located in Balkh district.
Mohammd Saleh Khaliq, a former official of the information and culture ministry, said that there are 120 historic places in the province, 60 of which have been recognized and repaired.
“When the tourists come here to see the historic places … they will do some shopping here. All of this will ramp up the economy,” he said.
The majority of these historic heritage areas are located in the Dawlat Abad, Balkh, Dehdadi, and Khulam districts of the province.
Provincial residents stress the need for the protection of these historic places.
“The people come here for entertainment and to see these historic areas. It should be protected,” said Ahmad, a resident of Kabul.
Meanwhile, a sculpture that was stolen from the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul almost 30 years ago is to be returned to its country, the British newspaper the Guardian reported.
Carved in the 2nd century from limestone, the sculpture of two bulls was excavated in the 1950s in northern Afghanistan but was looted during the civil war in the early 1990s, according to the Guardian report.
Where the piece went after being looted is unknown, but they it was spotted by the Art Loss Register (ALR), which has an international database of stolen artworks, on the website of Timeline Auctions, and reported to the police, the report said.
The seller immediately relinquished ownership and its status was confirmed by the British Museum, where Dr St John Simpson, a senior curator, recognised the sculpture immediately. “It’s a very well-known, unique piece,” he told the Observer, the Guardian said in the report.
Officials at Afghanistan’s national museum said that around seventy-five ancient relics from the Kushan period have been found in the Khum Zargar district of Kapisa province and the Mes Aynak area of Logar province and have been brought to the museum by the archaeologists.
According to officials, these ancient relics date from around two thousand years ago.
“These antiquities include pottery, metal barrels that were used for various tools. There are also a number of small statues which have been brought here for protection,” said Mohammad Fahim Rahimi, director of the National Museum.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information and Culture said that they are trying to prevent the smuggling of the ancient relics abroad.
“Currently, the antiquities that we have are very ancient and old. We want to show them to countries around the world,” said Khairullah Khairkhah, minister of information and culture.
The spokesman for the Islamic Emirate said that the restoration of antiquities will resume in the spring of next year.
“We are still in contact with those institutions that maintain and restore such antiquities for us, and in the coming spring, their restoration will begin,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Islamic Emirate.
In the past five months, a number of the country’s ancient relics have been smuggled to other countries, which officials hope will be captured in cooperation with Interpol police and brought back to the National Museum.
