Afghanistan, Buddhas of Bamiyan: Emergency consolidation of the cliffs and niches

摘要

The statues of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, carved around the VI century into the calcareousrncliff of the Bamiyan valley, are the largest Buddhist monuments in the world. These monuments werernalmost destroyed by the bombing perpetrated by Talebans in March 2001. Since then, UNESCO is activernin the Bamiyan area with the aim to preserve the remaining parts of the Buddha statues and to recuperaternthe artistic remains. The complex of Bamiyan has been inscribed in 2003 in the World Heritage List ofrnUNESCO as "cultural landscape". Among the most urgent operations required for the structural rehabilitationrnof the area there was the stabilization of the rock face in the vicinities and within the niches,rndeteriorated both by the explosions and the natural processes. The emergency measures were also aimedrnto consent to the archaeologist to catalogue and remove the Buddhas’ rock remains safely. The specializedrnengineering works were designed by Prof. C. Margottini and implemented by the Italian companyrnTrevi Spa. The site operations, which are described in this paper, were carried out in three separate phasesrnbetween 2003 and 2006.