Today’s
Enlightening Entertainment
will be presented
in Dari, English,
French, and German,
with subtitles in Arabic,
Aulacese (Vietnamese),
Chinese, English,
French, German,
Indonesian, Italian,
Japanese, Korean, Malay,
Persian, Portuguese,
Russian, Spanish
and Thai.
Welcome,
art-loving viewers.
Today present the first of
a three part series about
a very special exhibition
that represents
the rich cultural heritage
of Afghanistan.
Throughout history,
Afghanistan has been
connected with
other peoples
and cultures, such as
from China, India and
the Mediterranean world.
Afghan culture and art
have been enriched by
intercultural exchange;
just as well, others
have been enriched by all
that Afghanistan offered.
The exhibition,
“Afghanistan:
Surviving Treasures,”
includes
legendary treasures from
the National Museum
of Afghanistan in Kabul.
The exhibit centers
around artifacts
from four different sites –
Tepe Fullol, Ai Khanum,
Tilly Tepe, and Begram.
Thousands of years old,
yet still revealing the finesse
of their craftsmanship,
they hold an incalculable
artistic, cultural
and historical value.
These fine works of art
are currently on display
in Germany
at the Bundeskunsthalle
in Bonn.
Just before
the presentation in Bonn,
they have been shown
in the Canadian Museum
of Civilization
in Gatineu, Quebec.
The Deputy Minister of
Information and Culture
of the Islamic Republic
of Afghanistan,
His Excellency
Omar S. Sultan,
spoke about this
treasure trove exhibit during
its opening ceremony
in Bonn, Germany:
Look at these
precious objects
from different parts
of Afghanistan, with
different cultural integrity.
For instance,
you would see objects
from Tepe Fullol,
which are more than
4,000 years old,
but [maintains]
cultural integrity
of the great civilization
of Mesopotamia.
You will see the objects
from Ai Khanum,
which show the strong
civilized integration
from classical
Greek civilization.
You will see the treasures
from Begram
and Tillya Tepe,
with culture influenced
from integration
of ancient China, India,
Persia, Siberia, Greece
and Rome.
Let me conclude
by expressing my hope
that you will
enjoy seeing these objects
as much as we Afghans do.
Thank you very much.
Working as
an archaeologist
for the National
Geographic Society,
Dr. Fredrik Hiebert,
who was also the curator
of the exhibition
in Quebec, Canada, said:
I want everybody
who sees this exhibition
to know that it’s just
as much about
modern Afghanistan
as it is about
ancient Afghanistan.
To have that character,
to save one’s own past,
it’s really important.
The curator
of the exhibition in Bonn,
Mr. Pierre Cambon of
Musée Guimet in Paris,
shared the following:
What connects the various
components together,
in fact, first of all,
these are the pieces
that have been safely kept
in the safes
of the National Bank
in 1989.
These are the famous
hidden treasures,
the Bactrian gold, and
the most beautiful pieces
of the galleries
of the National Museum
of Kabul.
This being Ai Khanoun,
Tillya Tepe, Begram,
d'Afghanistan en faitBegram,
they are in fact
the beginning of
the history of Afghanistan
when it belonged to
the classical world
of Alexander the Great.
So these are the beginnings
of Afghan history,
before the Buddhist period,
before the birth of
this Greco-Buddhist art
but moreover,
if we take Tepe Fullol
as prologue,
Tepe Fullol is a site that
refers to the prehistory,
the second millennium
before Jesus Christ.
What unifies
these different sites
is that Afghanistan emerges
as a bridge between
East and West, between
the Mediterranean and
the Indian subcontinent,
with always,
in all the four faces,
this opening
to Central Asia,
to the North,
to the aesthete.
So there are several ways
to interpret the exhibition
and the different
approaches are
by definition the same.
Gentle viewers,
we will be right back
after these brief messages.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
So we have to get
the message out there.
We have to tell the story
of the beauty
and the wonder
of Afghanistan’s past.
It’s their heritage.
The oldest pieces
of the exhibition
are the golden vessels
from Tepe Fullol.
They date back
to the late Bronze Age
between 2200-1900 BC.
We find two bowls
and a goblet.
The golden bowls show
a depiction of animals,
namely a wild boar and
a bull, and ornaments.
In their style, they refer
to Mesopotamia and also
the Indus culture.
The director
of the National Museum
of Afghanistan in Kabul,
Mr. Omar Khan Massoudi,
shared the following:
I think
this is really important,
all of them, especially from
a historical point of view,
it'll be, if we pay attention
to the artifacts
from Tepe Fullol, which
belongs to Bronze Age.
They date more than
4,000 years ago.
Another part
of the exhibition is
dedicated to Ai Khanum.
The artworks here
are of Greek influence.
Ai Khanum was a town
founded by Seleucus, one
of Alexander the Great’s
former commanders
in 232 BC.
One may refer to it
as the most eastern point
of the Greek world.
Professor
Nazar Mohammad Azizi,
Director General
for Kushan-Research,
spoke about the meaning
of Ai Khanum:
Then we had
many precious things
and buildings of Greek
culture and civilisation.
For example,
we have a famous site,
that is called Ai Khanum.
Ai Khanum is
an Uzbek language of ours
in northern Afghanistan.
It means Lady Moon.
Lady Moon –
that is Ai Khanum.
Ai Khanum is
like an Alexandria.
If you go and look
in historical records,
you will find that this is
an Oxus Alexandria
(city of ancient
Greco-Bactrian kingdom).
Oxus Alexandria.
On this place
there are many buildings,
different artistic creations.
For example,
the Corinthian capitals
and columns, and also
palaces of the Greek,
amphitheatres
for example;
also many walls
that have been called
walls of the citadel.
And moreover, we have
many inscriptions,
also as you can see,
in Greek language,
and Greek inscriptions
had been made then.
An impressive piece of art
is the so-called
Cybele disc
from Ai Khanum,
3rd century BC.
Cybele, the Greek
goddess of nature,
is depicted travelling
through her beloved
mountain domain.
Her chariot is drawn
by two lions.
A winged goddess
of victory accompanies her.
Two priests,
one of them holding up
a large ceremonial parasol
and the other burning
incense on an altar,
mark the edges of the disc.
Three celestial bodies
are to be seen in the sky:
the sun in shape
of the sun god Helios,
a crescent moon,
and a star.
The disc is an example
of an art that fuses Greek
and Oriental motifs.
The motif of Cybele
on a chariot
drawn by lions, is from
the Mediterranean area.
The priests’ robes and
the big wheeled chariot
have their origin
in the Orient.
Like this piece of art,
many pieces have a
profound spiritual meaning
and reflect the beliefs
of the people in their time.
His Excellency,
Omar S. Sultan,
shared the following about
spirituality and religion:
In every country,
every human being has to
believe in something
because otherwise
your life is not complete.
I mean you call him God,
I call him God,
it is the same God.
It is not different.
So, with your religion
or my religion,
religion plays
a very important role.
But we have to [be] careful
how to use the religion
to make a common
and a beautiful way
to the people.
At least
that’s what I believe,
that if you don’t believe
in something in your life,
then your life is empty.
Dr. Fredrik Hiebert,
as curator of the exhibition
in Quebec, Canada,
explains how the artifacts
tell fascinating stories
about life
in ancient Afghanistan,
while offering
truly unique creations
to the world.
I think that the artifacts
that we see
from Afghanistan
show the true nature
of Afghan culture,
going all the way back.
You look at these artifacts
and you wonder
how they could be made.
They’re so beautiful
and some of them
are exceedingly tiny
and some of them
are quite large,
and the craftsmanship
is remarkable.
If you would
think about this country
with the high mountains
and the vast deserts,
you think, “Wow,
how could people
have made these
beautiful objects right there
in Afghanistan?”
I think it suggests
that the Afghan people
are very good artisans.
They were inspired by
the art of all the cultures
around them and yet
they took those inspirations
and they took those ideas
including religious ideas,
including artistic ideas,
and they put them
in their own art.
And they created something
that I consider
to be a unique
Afghan form of art.
Asked about
his expectation in respect
to this exhibition,
Mr. Shirazuddin Saifi,
Director of
the Restoration Department
of the Kabul
National Museum,
shared the following:
My expectation
from the exhibition
is to broadcast
our culture and customs
to the world outside.
So that the world outside
become aware of
our culture and tradition…
Friendly viewers,
this concludes the first part
of our program.
Please join us again
tomorrow, August 25.
Now, please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television
for Words of Wisdom,
after Noteworthy News.
May your life be touched
by beauty and nobility.
For more information
about the “Afghanistan:
Surviving Treasures”
exhibition
in Bonn, Germany
lasting through
October 3, 2010,
please visit