Afghan National Museum
Outside the Afghan National Museum in 2010
|
|
| Established | 1922 |
|---|---|
| Location | Kabul, Afghanistan |
| Collection size | approx. 100,000 before 1978; now about 30,000 |
Coordinates: 34°28′03″N 69°07′12″E / 34.46750°N 69.12000°E
The National Museum of Afghanistan (Persian: موزیم ملی افغانستان, Muzem-e milli-ye Afghanistan; Pashto: د افغانستان ملی موزیم, De Afghanistan Milli Meauziam), also known as the Afghan National Museum or sometimes the Kabul Museum, is a two-story building located 9 km southwest of the center of Kabul City in Afghanistan. As of 2014, the museum is under major expansion according to international standards, with a larger size adjoining garden for visitors to relax and walk around.
The museums collection had earlier been one of the most important in Central Asia, with over 100,000 items dating back several millennia. With the start of the civil war in 1992, the museum was looted numerous times resulting in a loss of 70% of the 100,000 objects on display. Since 2007, a number of international organizations have helped to recover over 8,000 artifacts, the most recent being a limestone sculpture from Germany. Approximately 843 artifacts were returned by the United Kingdom in 2012, including the famous 1st Century Bagram Ivories.
The Afghan National Museum was built in 1919 during the reign of King Amanullah Khan. The collection inside the museum was transferred from another location in the city and began as a 'Cabinet of Curiosities' in 1922. In 1973, a Danish architect was hired to design a new building for the museum, but the plans were never carried out due to political instability.
...
Wikipedia