Since the overthrow of that regime by U.S. forces in late 2001, Bamiyan province has been working to rebuild its tourism industry, with the Buddhas as a centerpiece.

Under debate, right now, is the question of how and whether the statues should be rebuilt. Little remains of the stucco coat and sculpted stone that gave the Buddhas of Bamiyan their definition.

The Buddhas of Bamiyan were a pair of massive statues of robed figures, dubbed the Eastern Buddha and the Western Buddha, that once stood along the Silk Road, a network of trade routes that ...

March 11 marks the anniversary of the destruction of Bamiyan’s sixth-century Buddha statues by the Taliban in 2001. According to experts, encroaching construction, negligence, and looting are ...

Its main attraction, a 37-meter replica of one of the famed Bamiyan buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, is mysteriously covered by a huge cloth, with only its giant feet poking out.

With the fall of Kabul last year, we had to rethink the exhibition.” A painted mural inside the niche of a Bamiyan Buddha, photographed in 1935.

The giant Buddhas - representing a man, a woman, and a child - were infamously blown up by the Taliban in 2001, but their dramatic outlines remain etched in sheer red cliffs at the edge of the city.

Excavation is also going on in the area behind the Bamiyan cliff, and some experts believe they can uncover a third, prone statue of the Buddha, which could be as long as 300 feet (90 metres).

The Buddhas of Bamiyan were a pair of massive statues of robed figures, dubbed the Eastern Buddha and the Western Buddha, that once stood along the Silk Road, a network of trade routes that ...