Where Buddha Once Stood Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is the Bamiyan Valley, looking across the town to the Large Buddha niche. At 55m high this used to house the tallest standing Buddha ever made and which was created in the 6th century. About 500m to the right is the Small Buddha niche with a similar carving that was 38m high.

Although not perfectly preserved, the Buddhas remained well intact until March 2001. Then they were destroyed by the Taliban. Although they had always threatened to demolish these "un-Islamic" icons, they withheld from carrying out the action on this world famous site for several years. But ultimately they fired rockets at the statues and dynamited the damaged carvings until only piles of rubble were left.

The world was horrified and in the West awareness of the terrible regime of the Taliban increased. I suspect that this act helped to make it easier to influence public opinion against the Taliban when the time came for the US led war after September 11th.

But tragic though the demolition of the Buddhas was, let us not forget the much more awful tragedy across Afghanistan. The human cost is one far greater than the destruction of ancient statues. Here in Bamiyan and in many other towns across the country, the Taliban rushlessly murdered those who did not support them and razed to the ground houses and bazaars. Today, on the outskirts of the town, ruined buildings still line the road, testament to these dreadful times.

Following Sarju's excellent suggestion, here is a link to some photos of the Buddhas before their distruction.

There's also an excellent picture here by Luko.

sebautourdumond, bantonbuju, hamster, spyros60, diasman, Cormac, don_narayan, crhieatt, jjbach, supereira, spence, bibiweb, weswang, sarju, speedyturtle, quelquepart, marieaude, jafadabret has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

sebautourdumond (3104) 2005-10-19 14:14

Hi Jonathan,
i like your picture, a picture with many sense. Good framing.
Seb

bantonbuju (48622) 2005-10-19 14:17

hi jonathan, thanks a lot for this shot and the note; note is a first class te stuff, and the picture deserves a special attention - its historical and geographical value is just great! excellent colours and sharpness; great work, trully te stuff!
best wishes, jerzy

spyros60 (5548) 2005-10-19 14:45

A nice sharp picture with beautiful collors and theme.
Very interesting the story to!
You worth two smilies

Cormac (26449) 2005-10-19 16:25

What a combination - it's a beautiful shot of a green valley surrounded by spectacular cliffs, and it represents such a sad story. The gaping hole of the missing buddha is very poignent, and leads us to think about the other, less tanglible tragedies that accompanied that era. Great work Jonathan.

don_narayan (2014) 2005-10-19 16:58

very nice shot but the note is even more informative, thanks. I like the scale here, the low houses and the high cliffs, the colors are also very nice, good light.

crhieatt (5143) 2005-10-19 18:55

Lovely photograph Jonathan, and a good note to go with it. I recall being quite outraged by the destruction of this statue at the time, I think, mostly, because of its absolute pointlessness, and perhaps, in the end, this was why it had such a big effect on public opinion in the west - that those willing to destroy things "pointlessly" seemed a good deal more dangerous than those who seek to destroy their enemies. (ramble ramble).
Regards
Colin

supereira (9576) 2005-10-20 5:47

Great view.I like the composition and prespective.Good contrast between the rocks and the green.Good colors,light and sharpness.I like the detail and framing.Good job!

spence (1679) 2005-10-20 6:49

I well remember the horror of seeing this on television Jonathan. And as you say, there was worse to see. Your photograph is lovely - such nice light, good depth and marvellous colour. The contrast between the green, the pink rock and the wedge of blue sky is terrific.

jjbach (9101) 2005-10-20 6:53

Hi Jonathan,
A really fantastic composition from a great point of view. The perspective and the depth is wonderful. The clarity is stunning too. Splendid work!!

Regards John

bibiweb (8) 2005-10-20 7:22

Hi Jonathan,
A beautiful afternoon light you've managed to capture here! I like the contrast between the green vegetation surrounding the village and the brown-coloured arid cliffs and mountains in the background. Good idea to use the vertical format to show us the landscape and the the empty Large Buddha niche.
Have a nice day.
Brigitte

phi75 (0) 2005-10-20 15:20

hi Jonathan;
beautiful photo, and very sad story!!
I remember that I prepared some notes long time ago about hellenistic influence in buddha sculptural representation, and there was a large part concerning afghanistan.
thanks to remind us this story.
regards;
philippe

weswang (18223) 2005-10-21 11:47

Hi Jonathan, An impressive shot of the place where tragic story happened. We can image the Buddha status from the empty cave.

A very well taken picture with nice contrast to the layers of view. An impressive view of the peaceful and quiet place.

coco (27842) 2005-10-22 13:22

Hi Jonathan.
Splendid landscape and capture. And also very interesting note (a pity the Buddahs and the situation of the country).
The composition is great.
Regards.

sarju (5308) 2005-10-22 14:11

Hi Jonathan
THis one is definitely the best shot of Bamiyan I have ever seen ... thanks for going there and capturing this wonderful photo.
I love the way you used the warm sunlight to your effects ... very nicely done
cheers ..... sarju
PS: I remember when the buddhas were destroyed by the Taliban ... Many of my tibetan friends in India were sad like anythig .. thanks again
PS: Maybe it would have been helpful had you posted some link along with the note showing some photos on internet with the Budhas intact at Bamiyan

banyanman (7716) 2005-10-23 5:44

So sad to see this beautiful valley with the Buddhas gone. I remember I too was outraged at the time they were destroyed by the Taliban. Your composition (framing, DOF, exposure) is excellent and the best I have seen of Bamiyan. Cheers . . . David

rabdelnoor (2973) 2005-10-23 20:49

Hi Jonathan,
Excellent shot showing a wonderful view of this valley. It is sad that such great and simbolic sculptures went down by the feared and unreasonable Talibans. At least now the people of Afhganistan are free from them and can dream to better times.
Regards,
Ricardo

nbournas (3223) 2005-10-27 18:04

Excellent note to go with this beautiful shot Jonathan. The surprise for me was the fact of how much green exists so close to where the statues were located. From the news pictures I thought this was a very dry place...Good job.

bboss (3516) 2005-11-01 16:37

Great picture, amazing composition and fabulous colour clarity and light. Its just so sad to see the absence of these giant Buddhas, one of the Talibans terrible legacies. I expect things are so much better there now we have restored freedom and democracy? Just curious as Afghanistan is NEVER mentioned in the news anymore.
cheers, David

quelquepart (802) 2005-11-03 19:56

I like the pictures where you are able to see the surroubdings of monuments. The mountain range is awesome and the village peacefull.
It is such a pity the buddhas are gone...

rosaline (0) 2005-11-06 10:15

Johnathan
This is a piece of history, well discussed in your note. Will keep this for reference.

Cheers
AS

marieaude (1196) 2006-03-27 6:18

hello, beautiful photo with very interesting note. It is a good testimony. Thank you for it. I like those green colors in first view and the mountains colors in the back.

jafadabret (39557) 2006-05-10 12:37

Jonathan la photo est très intéressante par le vide de cette niche. La note explicative plus les liens sont encore plus intéressants pour se rendre compte du massacre. Notre Révolution Française a, elle aussi, fait bien des massacres tant de vies que d'oeuvres d'art. Il faut penser que le genre humain va progresser mais c'est long à venir !
Jacques