Monday, January 30, 2012
Kabul (BNA) A monument stolen in the recent decades, was returned to the government of Afghanistan in cooperation with the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The monument is an engraved piece which was stolen during the war-years in Afghanistan and smuggled out of the country.
Dr. Zalmai Rassouil Minister of Foreign Affairs who participated in the Ceremony, appreciating the cooperation of the Government of Germany in recovering of the stolen piece said, “Unfortunately, due to the unfavorable war conditions in the country a large number of historical pieces have been smuggled”.
Fortunately, as a result of the efforts of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassies and Consulates General of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan outside, and the cooperation of the friendly countries, some of them have been returned and handed over to the country’s national museum.
The piece that is returned to the ministry of Information and Culture is considered as the property of the Government of Afghanistan.”
Subsequently, Dr. Sayed Makhdoom Raheen, Minister of Information and Culture said that the Ministry of Information and Culture particularly, the Department of National Museum having made intensified efforts is proud to have changed the country’s national museum, which was destroyed to a ghost house over the three decades of war, to a dignified establishment for retaining of the historical pieces.
From the tens of thousands of the lost historical pieces the Ministry of Information and Culture has been able to purchase, recover or restore some thousands of pieces.
Also a large number of them have been extracted out of the soil.
Afghanistan having been through different historical period was the home of culture and the meeting point of diverse cultures, integrated this cultures, as a result of which, their traces remain tangible.
The monument that is being returned to the National Museum belongs to the 2nd Century AD which was recovered in cooperation with the Government of the Federal Republic Germany with the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Afghan Embassy in Berlin.
The monument, which belongs to the Kingdom of Gandhara, is 30 centimeters high and 26 centimeters wide portrays on a white surface made out of stone engraved two lines of 8 members of audience standing and listening to the traditions of Buddha sitting on the throne on the right.
The historical piece which was found in Munich of the Federal Republic of Germany last year was returned to Mr. Abdul Rahman Ashraf, and the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Berlin.
