(HOST) Commentator and Vermont Humanities Council executive director Peter Gilbert tells us about a stunning exhibit of Afghani treasures – currently touring the United States – that took him back to his travels in Afghanistan.
(GILBERT) In the spring of 1975, while a junior in college, I traveled across Afghanistan by public bus. My big backpack was on the roof of the bus, but I kept with me a little rucksack with my camera, some food, a water bottle, and a bottle of Lomotil. From the ancient city of Herat the dirt road curved south and east, skirting the great Hindu Kush mountain range, to Kandahar, then back north, toward the capital, Kabul. That was four years before the Soviet invasion.
The route was, in those days, part of what I called the hippie trail, from Istanbul to Katmandu. Drugs weren’t my thing, but many young western travelers I met liked the adventure, the cheap living, and the hashish. Some looked like they were straight out of the movie "Midnight Express."
Afghanistan was a staggeringly poor country, but stunningly beautiful. Arid flatlands wrapped around the base of grand, sculpted mountains, some capped with snow. Friendly faces showed traces of the Mongol, Indian, and European armies that have crisscrossed the region for thousands of years.
I loved every minute and every foot of it. And so, on a recent trip to Washington, D.C. I took in a stunning exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. It’s called "Afghanistan, Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, [in] Kabul." It’s in Washington until September 7th , and then travels to San Francisco, Houston, and finally, to the Met in New York.
The 228 artifacts, from four archeological sites, survived buried for thousands of years. They’d been on display at the National Museum in Kabul before the Soviet invasion in 1979 and were thought lost; the museum had been destroyed by shelling in 1994. But, in fact, brave Afghanis, at great personal risk, had saved them from the Soviets, ‘mujahedeen’, Taliban, and common thieves by hiding them in crates in a vault in the Central Bank within the Presidential Palace.
In 2004, the crates were unsealed, and these priceless treasures were revealed once more – a four thousand-year-old golden bowl decorated with bearded bulls that link it to Mesopotamia; bronze and stone sculptures from a former city founded by Alexander the Great; ivory carvings, painted glassware, and bronzes imported from both Rome and India; and, from a grave site of six nomads who lived 2000 years ago, gold ornaments and a dagger handle of gold and turquoise depicting a dancing bear and other animals.
Opening the crates in 2004 caused great rejoicing in Kabul, for priceless treasures thought lost had been found. I loved seeing them in Washington, but I left the exhibit feeling a bit melancholy. These treasures had survived, but so much more has been damaged or lost forever, not just countless art objects, but buildings, archaeological sites, municipal works, human lives, homes, and happiness. Hidden in darkness for years, these treasures have come out again into the sunshine of a proud, resilient, and, soon we must hope, more peaceful Afghanistan.