(Tokyo) Japanese researchers have reproduced identically a Buddhist fresco destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban in Afghanistan, using a mixture of traditional and digital techniques, thus hoping to preserve and transmit the “spirit” of this work to future generations .
There is not a single fragment of the 7th century rock painting left that was blasted along with the two giant Buddhas and other archaeological artifacts in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley, a World Heritage crime that had sparked an uproar.
But a faithful replica, the result of three years of state-of-the-art work, was exhibited in a Tokyo museum in September-October, just weeks after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan.
The original painting on the ceiling of a cave near the famous statues depicted a blue Bodhisattva, a disciple of Buddha who delays his accession to nirvana to help human beings.
Six meters long and three meters high, her full-size copy has been called a “super clone” by the Tokyo University of the Arts reproduction team.
“We managed to recreate a very precise three-dimensional representation”, from the texture to the paint used, explains Takashi Inoue, co-director of the team and professor specializing in Eurasian cultural heritage.
“All destruction is in vain”
Japan is a major donor to Afghanistan and has long been involved in preserving the archaeological heritage of the Bamiyan Valley, a crossroads of ancient civilizations located in central Afghanistan and considered one of the cradles of Buddhism. Japanese.
Mr. Inoue’s team digitally processed around 100 photos of the original fresco taken by Japanese archaeologists before its destruction, in order to create a computer model of its surface. This data was then fed into a machine which etched the exact shape into a block of polystyrene.
A team of artists then completed the copy by applying a traditional deep blue paint, the color lapis lazuli, similar to that of the original fresco.
Through this process, “today we have the capacity to give shape to works and to transmit their spirit to new generations”, estimates Mr. Inoue. “All destruction is in vain, let us together preserve the heritage of humanity,” he says.
For Kosaku Maeda, a Japanese historian specializing in the remains of Bamiyan and co-director of the fresco reproduction team, the “extremely shocking” images of Bamiyan Buddhas disappearing in clouds of dust are remembered.
With the return to power of the Taliban, “I feared that such an act would be inflicted again on the remains,” says the 88-year-old specialist who has visited the Bamiyan valley numerous times for more than half a year. -century.
“With the current techniques of reconstruction, all destruction is meaningless” because “we can recreate the works almost endlessly and that is our message” to the Taliban, also declares Mr. Maeda.
Afghan economy at half mast
The new Islamist regime insisted on its desire to protect the archaeological heritage of Afghanistan, contrary to its actions during its previous stint in power from 1996 to 2001.
During a visit to Bamiyan in early October, journalists saw the Taliban standing guard near the cavities that housed the two giant Buddhas in the wall of a cliff.
With the Afghan economy collapsing, the Taliban have realized that protecting heritage “gives work and regular income,” said Philippe Marquis, director of the French archaeological delegation in Afghanistan, last month.
A UNESCO-backed cultural center is being built in Bamiyan, although its planned inauguration this year has been delayed by the Taliban takeover.
Mr. Maeda dreams of simultaneously building a “peace museum” in the valley and, if possible, exhibiting the copy of the fresco there.
“A nation remains alive when its culture remains alive,” he said, quoting the message inscribed on a banner at the entrance of the National Museum in Kabul.