Allego un articolo di David Brunnstrom (Reuters) sul tema "Debating Future of Buddhas Destroyed by Taliban".
L'articolo riporta le perplessitā (nell'articolo si parla di "orrore") dell'UNESCO.
Queste perplessitā coincidono con quanto da me sostenuto sull'opportunitā di tale ricostruzione e sulla volontā degli islamici nell'eseguirla; in proposito l'unico interesse del governatore di Bamiyan, Mohammad Yar Ali č solo quello di incrementare il turismo.
L'articolo accenna anche al tentativo di supportare la ricostruzione con l'esistenza di frammenti che consentirebbero "un processo noto come anastylosis"
In ogni caso, l'intento pių urgente č quello di conservare quel poco che rimane.
Per trovare i diversi interneti sull'argomento vedi i nostri precedenti messaggi:
Re: Afghan Sculptor to Rebuild Statues
Afghan Sculptor to Rebuild Statues
R: [eGroups Restauro] ricostruire il buddha afgan
Re: ricostruire il buddha afgano
R: [eGroups Restauro] Ricostruire il Buddha afgan
R: [eGroups Restauro] ricostruire il buddha afgan
Ricostruire il Buddha afgano ?
BAMIYAN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - For over 1,600 years, from the
twilight of imperial Rome through the ravages of Genghis Khan, the
giant Buddhas of Bamiyan towered above the fabled Silk Road through
Afghanistan that linked the ancient East and West.
A thousand years back, when they were already 600 years old, the
faces of the statues were hacked off on the orders of a Muslim
zealot. But the figures themselves stood until March last year, when
Mullah Omar, leader of Afghanistan's former Taliban regime, finished
them off with dynamite.
The two colossal statues laboriously carved from a pink sandstone
cliff overlooking the town of Bamiyan were blasted from their massive
niches and reduced to piles of dust and rubble in an act that shocked
the world and woke it up to the extent of the Taliban's religious
intolerance.
It looked to be a final devastating blow to central Afghanistan's
Hazara tribe, who suffered some of the worst Taliban atrocities and
saw Bamiyan, their capital, reduced to pitiful ruin during its rule.
But with the Taliban now overthrown, experts from around the world
are working with the new government, under the auspices of the U.N.
cultural organization, UNESCO, to see what can be done to save what
is left of the Buddhas.
Technology exists to completely rebuild the 125 foot and 180 foot
statues, but a debate is raging as to how far such work should go.
At present, only the outlines of the statues remain, along with parts
of the arms attached to the cliff wall. And even those fragments are
in danger.
Among the most controversial proposals has been from an Afghan-
American artist, Haider Zad, who suggested building new statues in
reinforced concrete, an idea that has horrified UNESCO experts and
would likely provoke considerable anger among Afghanistan's legions
of Islamic conservatives.
Accompanying a team of Japanese and European experts to inspect the
remnants last week, UNESCO Kabul's senior cultural specialist Jim
Williams said the government and international donors had agreed the
priority should be to consolidate and protect the remains.
He said UNESCO's mandate did not allow for the building of new
statues.
RECONSTRUCTION A POSSIBILITY
Michael Petzet, president of the International Council for Monuments
and Sites, a nongovernmental organization that is a consultant to
UNESCO, said he and other experts believed there were enough large
fragments remaining for a successful reconstruction of the Buddhas
through a process known as anastylosis.
"We were astonished, because we had heard from the news and from
colleagues that there was nothing but dust left. And here you have
many big fragments," he said, pointing to a big boulder that was part
of the smaller Buddha's shoulder.
"It's like any archaeological site, when columns fall down, you have
part of it and you sort of build it up again."
He said the Afghan government was keen to rebuild the statues.
"Of course, we are only interested in a very scientific professional
work and not in the idea of a new Buddha in concrete or gold. These
are horrible ideas that would destroy what is left," he said.
The governor of Bamiyan, Mohammad Rahim Ali Yar, said the local
government was eager to see the statues rebuilt, both because they
represented part of Afghanistan's cultural heritage and because they
would bring much needed tourism revenue to the desperately poor
province.
Butul Ahad Abacy, the engineer in charge of historic monuments at the
ministry of information and culture, said it could be dangerous to
build new statues.
"We are living in an Islamic country and there are some very radical
Islamists living here. If we were to build new statues banned by
Islam they might react very strongly to that.
"According to the rules on the preservation of monuments, if
something is destroyed, we preserve what is left. I don't think that
would provoke the same outrage as building a new idol. It would be
just preserving our historical heritage."
DIFFICULT AND URGENT TASK
Protection of the remains is an urgent, difficult and dangerous task,
as the Buddhas were carved from a soft and crumbling stone that once
formed part of a prehistoric seabed.
Deep cracks in the niches have been widened by the explosions and
what remains of the statues is in danger of crashing down if left
exposed during the coming winter.
Even vibration caused by U.S. special forces helicopters overflying
Bamiyan has caused some rock falls from the niches.
"The situation is quite delicate, very fragile really at this
moment," said Claudio Margottini, an expert on rock mechanics from
the University of Modena in Italy, advising the UNESCO team.
"It's a really dangerous situation, so we hope it's possible to do
something. Generally winter here is very severe and in a structure
like this, ice can enlarge the fractures and may cause collapse."
The experts are considering structures to protect the niches and
emergency work to shore up the fractures.
They are also looking at ways to protect what remains of Buddhist
wall paintings dating from the 5th to 7th centuries that decorated
many of the hundreds of cave-like monks' cells carved into the cliffs
around the statues.
Some were defaced by the Taliban, while others have been damaged by
fires lit by local people who have traditionally wintered in the
caves, or refugees who took shelter there when their houses were
destroyed by fighting.
Some paintings have also been stolen for sale to overseas collectors,
including Japan, said Kosaku Maeda of the University of Wako in
Tokyo. Maeda, on his first trip to Bamiyan since 1978, estimated that
80 percent of the paintings that existed then had now disappeared.
"We were shocked to see this," he said. "Almost all the paintings are
covered with dust and smoky film. If they are cleaned we may find
some very important paintings," he said.
Maeda said the experts, who will submit a funding proposal to the
Japanese government, want to build a workshop at Bamiyan to store and
restore the paintings, which would be attached to a site museum.
Sergio Tinč
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