Crossroad of Culture: A Contested Space of Culture and Cultural Terrorism - Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Aisha Nabi

The Monuments across the globe represent the legacies of great empires and immortal tales which has stood against the test of time. The Buddhas of Bamiyan represent one such marvel which encompasses within itself a 1500-year-old history of the silk roads and the various exchanges which took place therein. In 2001, the Taliban demolished the two great statues of the Bamiyan buddhas which led to a massive loss in world history. There have been various deliberations about preserving the statues and their possible reconstruction. UNESCO has put significant efforts toward preserving the remains of the Bamiyan buddhas but a possible reconstruction still remains a theory. This study analyses the reconstruction of the Buddhas in the light of historical distance as proposed by Mark Salber Phillips. It suggests that historical distance is something which is given in any observation and thus cannot be created artificially and therefore emphasises the significance of the empty niches which represent events of history itself. It elaborates on the efforts of the preservation of the site by UNESCO and explores the link between the historical distance and the current significance of the Bamiyan Buddhas.