Abstract
Bamiyan is located at a cultural cross-roads between Iran and the Mediterranean to the west, China to the east, India to the south, and nomadic cultures to the north. Approximately 1,000 caves were modified to serve as temples, residences, and storage chambers. As is well known, the site’s two colossal Buddha sculptures were shattered in March 2001, and wall paintings were either destroyed or looted for sale in international art markets. Over 80% of the paintings were lost. In 2005 a UNESCO project entitled “Safeguarding the Bamiyan Valley” was launched. Prior to conservation work, minute samples were taken from 31 caves (of a total 279). These were used to investigate original painting technologies and their mechanics of deterioration. Analysis confirmed the Buddhist paintings of mid-seventh century Bamiyan as the world’s earliest examples to use drying oil as binding media. In addition, the creation of the paintings is distinguished by other complex technologies, including the skilful use of earthen materials; and the sophisticated application of multiple colour layers and finishing techniques.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to the Ministry of Culture and Information in Afghanistan, as well as Kazuya Yamauchi and his colleagues at the ex-National Research Institute of Cultural Properties in Tokyo and Masanori Nagaoka at the UNESCO Kabul office. Analyses at ESRF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility) were carried out as part of the “Combination of Micro-X-ray Diffraction and Micro-Infrared Spectroscopy for the Study of Multi-Layered Buddhist Mural Paintings from Bamiyan” (EC101 Y. Taniguchi, M. Cotte, E. Checroun). Reference FTIR spectra were cited from the IRUG database (www.irug.org). I would like to thank the following colleagues who contributed important data and advice: Kosaku Maeda, Shigeo Aoki, Hidemi Otake, Takeshi Nakazawa, Miho Takashima, Yuki Kumazawa, Hiromi Yasui, Yuki Watanuki, Fabio Colombo, Georgios Toubekis, Catharina Blaensdorf, Omara Khan Masoudi, Abbas Kawari, Joy Mazurek, Stephen Rickerby, Rayna Rusenko and, finally, Michael Petzet, who sadly passed away in 2019. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP18700680.
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Taniguchi, Y. (2021). Materials and Technologies of the Bamiyan Wall Paintings. In: Aoki, S., et al. Conservation and Painting Techniques of Wall Paintings on the Ancient Silk Road. Cultural Heritage Science. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4161-6_10
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