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Of the 800 or so caves created here from the 5th to 14th centuries, nearly half had some form of decoration. What survives adds up to a developmental timeline of Buddhist art in China... But of course much of it has not survived. By the 11th century Dunhuang's fortunes were in decline. Sea trade had cut into Silk Road traffic. Regional wars left the town isolated. Monks, possibly panicked by rumors of an Islamic invasion, sealed up tens of thousands of manuscript scrolls in a small cave. The invasion didn't happen, but the books, many of them already ancient, stayed...

Islamists damage giant rock Buddha By Ben Quinn Last Updated: 2:11am BST 11/10/2007 Islamist radicals in Pakistan have attempted to destroy an ancient carving of Buddha by drilling holes in the rock and filling them with dynamite.The Buddha is thought to date from the seventh century AD The 23ft high image was damaged during the attack, which brought back memories of the Taliban's destruction six years ago of the giant Buddhas at Bamiyan, in neighbouring Afghanistan. The Buddha, in the Swat district of north-west Pakistan, is thought to date from the seventh century AD and was considered the largest in...

11/09/2007 PAKISTAN Another attack on the giant Buddha of Swat In the valley of Swat, north western Pakistan, Islamic militants have launched a second attack in less than a month on the gigantic sacred statue. The head, shoulders and feet have been destroyed while the militants threaten a third and final attack. Islamabad (AsiaNews) – A group of Islamic militants have attacked for the second time in less than a month the giant Buddha carved in the rocks of Swat Valley, in north western Pakistan. Despite the many requests for greater protection, the government has failed to intervene in any...

A NATO airstrike destroyed a Taliban command post in southern Afghanistan, killing a suspected senior militant leader, the alliance said Friday. Separately, an assailant gunned down an Afghan lawmaker who, under the former Taliban regime, oversaw the destruction of two Buddha statues carved into a cliff. Maulavi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi, who was the Taliban's governor of Bamiyan province when the fifth-century Buddha statues were blown up with dynamite and artillery in March 2001, was killed on his way to Friday prayers in Kabul, said Zulmai Khan, Kabul's deputy police chief. Mohammadi was elected in 2005 to represent the northern province...

Excerpt - TOKYO (AFP) - A part of a Buddhism sutra was found inside one of the two giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, providing a hint for unveiling the mystery surrounding the creation of the statues, a Japanese news agency has reported. The fragment of the scripture was believed to be the original Sanscrit document, written with the letters often used in the sixth and seventh century, according to a Kyodo news dispatch from Kabul. A German team of researchers from the International Council on Monuments and Sites found the sutra in July inside the rubble of the remains of the...

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan (AFP) - In a huge cavity dug into the side of a cliff, workers search through the rubble to exhume the remains of the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan. At the scene of the crime carried out in 2001 all evidence points to Osama bin Laden as the mastermind. "This is the terrorism of the Taliban," says Rahim, an official at the work site in front of the empty niche of the biggest of the two statues, one of which stood 55 metres (182 feet) tall and the other 38 metres. Wearing a hard hat and a mask over...

Japanese researchers said they found a seventh-century painting of a mythological Persian bird in Afghanistan's Bamiyan ruins, showing the region's Buddhism was influenced by pre-Islamic Iran. The team unearthed an image of what appears to be a Simorgh, the giant and powerful bird that figures prominently in Zoroastrian-era Iranian legends. The faded painting emerged after Japanese researchers removed soot from a Buddhist cave in Bamiyan, the region where Taliban Islamic extremists dynamited the world's tallest standing Buddha statues in 2001. "This is the first time a vivid image of this creature was confirmed" in Bamiyan, an expert involved in the...

PARIS, December 30 (Online): An international mission has successfully secured and catalogued what remains of the site of the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, blown up in 2001 by the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, said the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Conservation experts and representatives of the Afghan and Japanese governments met in Tokyo Dec. 18-20 to discuss the progress of the project to rescue what is left of the largely destroyed World Heritage site. Conference participants heard that less than 20 per cent of the wall paintings on the site had survived the 22 years of Afghan civil...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 5/14/04 - Bamiyan, Kabul, Najaf, Basra Bamiyan, Afghanistan -the Hazara, freed by the USA Kabul - Afghans, freed by the USA BREAKING: Najaf - BEHIND ENEMY LINES BREAKING: Basra Exclusive to FReerepublic PICTURES YOU MAY NEVER SEE IN THE GENERAL MEDIA ========= Bamiyan, Afghanistan ========= In Bamiyan, Afghanistan, with the Hazara freed by the USA. They live in cave homes. Here, grilled meat sold in a stall, as others play and pose. ========= Kabul ========= In Kabul, Afghan school girls, freed by the USA, perform during a ceremony to mark the 12th...

GENEVA (AP) - Swiss-based scientists have created a model of a huge Buddha statue destroyed by the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and said they hope it will be used to rebuild the ancient figure. The team used 30-year-old photographs and special software to build the three-dimensional model, which represents the larger of two standing Buddhas the hardline Islamic group blew up with dynamite in March 2001. International outcry followed the destruction of the giant Buddhas, which were chiseled into the cliff more than 1,500 years ago in Bamiyan Valley on the ancient Silk Route linking Europe and Central Asia....

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 09/26/03 -Baghdad, Bamiyan, Kabul, Mosul BREAKING: Baghdad - minor explosion outside al-Aike Hotel BREAKING: Bamiyan - New Zealand heroes take over BREAKING: Kabul - FREED Afghanis everywhere BREAKING: Mosul - 101st Airborne division trains Iraqis QFN -- QUAGMIRE FREE NEWS ========= Baghdad, IRAQ ========= North of Baghdad, Iraq, on the trail of Bruce Willis, at his concert in Taal Afar airfield for Heroes of the 101st Airborne Division In Baghdad, at the al-Aike Hotel, a bomb exploded outside the hotel, killing a Somali guard and injuring a Canadian sound engineer working with...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 01/11/03 - Bamiyan,Istalif,Kabul,Kandahar,Mero Gul BREAKING: Bamiyan, Afghanistan - Freedom for Hazara women because of the USA BREAKING: Istalif - Freedom for all because of the USA BREAKING: Kabul - Education and health care for women because of the USA BREAKING: Mero Gul- Education for women because of the USA Kabul, Kandahar, Raisin Factory =========== Bakshikhayl =========== In Bakshikhayl, near Bagram, Afghanistan, US troops gave away gifts including MREs, chocolate and pencils. Here, heroes of the 455th Expeditionary Operations Group of the US Air Force deliver some of the fruits of freedom. =========...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 10/26/02 - Bagram, Bamiyan, Gholghola, Hamburg, Dahuk, Aziz taken BREAKING: Dr. Germ taken, Lahore, Pakistan, Dr Amir Aziz, Bagram, live-fire exercise, Apache Hellfire, heroes return from a sortie, Harrier jets, Bamiyan, Afghanistan, Gholghola School, Kabul cricket game, 772nd MP Company, Massachusetts Army National Guard, Kandahar, 82nd Airborne, Gaza,Akram al-Zatma, Hamburg, Germany, Terrorist Mounir el Motassadeq at trial, Arad, Israel, at the funerals caused by Palestinian terrorists, Khan Younis, terrorists practice, Dahuk, Turkey =========== Bagram =========== In Bagram, live-fire exercise with Apache Hellfire missile. In Bagram, heroes return from a sortie. In Bagram,...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 10/4/02 - Kabul, Bamiyan, Kandahar, Jalalabad, US Leaflets, Baghdad, Palaces, Gaza, Tel Aviv, New Jersey, Washington BREAKING: US Leaflets, BREAKING: Baghdad, frantic replacements, BREAKING: US flags burning in Gaza, BREAKING: Justice in Tel Aviv, BREAKING: Stupid in New Jersey, Weasels in Washington, Presidential Palaces, Mosul, Kabul, lions from China, Bamiyan, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Nazi eagle in Ramallah, Remembrance in Phnom Penh, ========= From US forces over Iraq ========= Psyop: Leaflet dropped over southern Iraq. ========= Baghdad ========= In Baghdad, Iraq, frantic movements to replace all paintings, statues, and pictures of Saddam. Will all...