Over 100 cultural artifacts to be returned to Afghanistan

The "Left foot of Zeus," one of the artifacts that will be returned to Afghanistan

Over 100 artifacts previously stolen from Afghanistan and taken to Japan through the black market will be returned to Afghanistan sometime next year, according to a report today from asiaone.com.

The items, which include the famous “Left Foot of Zeus” and a piece of a mural removed from the Bamiyan Caves were being held in Japan’s Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum. The report stated that the items were being held there because of the the turmoil in Afghanistan. The organization wanted to wait until the situation in Afghanistan had settled and that they can be returned without being destroyed by an extremist regime, like the Taliban who blew up the Bamiyan statues back in 1998.

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) had been working with the Japanese organization holding them to have these cultural assets returned to Afghanistan. “We have determined that Afghanistan can responsibly preserve and exhibit the cultural properties,” Noboru Noguchi, a member of the committee and the director general of the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan, said at a press conference early this month.

August 23, 2015 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Cultural Heritage