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News from PRINCETON UNIVERSITY For immediate release: Feb. 18, 2002 Contact: Karyn M. Olsen, 609-258-0157 Leader of Bamiyan Buddha reconstruction project to speak at PrincetonPRINCETON, N.J. -- In March 2001, the Taliban destroyed two giant Buddha statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Carved in the limestone cliffs of the Bamiyan region almost 2,000 years ago, the statues were considered by the Taliban to be depictions of a false god, forbidden by the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islam, and were reduced to rubble in a public display. On Friday, Feb. 22, the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination will host Paul Bucherer, director of the Afghanistan Institute and Museum (in exile) in Switzerland, who will present a public lecture on "Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage: The Reconstruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan," 7:30 p.m. in 101 McCormick Hall on the Princeton campus. Bucherer is leading the high-profile international project to restore the Buddha statues. He recently returned from a meeting with the head of the interim Afghan government, Hamid Karzai, to secure his approval for the reconstruction effort. "Bucherer is one of Europe's foremost experts on Afghanistan and its culture, and has been involved in the region for over 30 years," said Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, director of the Liechtenstein Institute. While war in Afghanistan raged over the years, concerned Afghans asked Bucherer to store Afghan arts and artifacts in Switzerland. Bucherer runs the Afghanistan Institute and Museum in Bubendorf, which has become a sanctuary for Afghan cultural treasures and is protected by the United Nations' Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a center for national cultural heritage outside a conflict zone. The lecture is sponsored by the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. It is free and open to the public.
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