The Fate of Bamiyan’s Giant Buddha Statues

Abstract

This contribution outlines the debate around a possible and (from the Afghan side until 2021) sought after reconstruction of Bamiyan’s giant Buddha statues, which started after their destruction in 2001, and lasted up until the UNESCO conference on the subject in 2017. This debate gains significance against a background of ongoing discussion concerning the legitimacy of heritage reconstruction in general, which has greatly altered the key concepts of authenticity and integrity. This general discussion is, naturally, still open. But consideration of the Bamiyan case has been rendered obsolete by the political events of August 2021. This contribution advances the opinion that a physical reconstruction of the statues would be redundant, since their destruction has established them firmly and universally in the collective imagery.