Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley

Two colossal Buddhas once gazed from the cliffs of the Bamiyan Valley, carved where caravan routes threaded the mountains of ancient Bakhtria; their empty niches, left when the Taliban demolished the statues in March 2001, are now among the world's most haunting monuments. Around them survive painted caves, Buddhist monastic sanctuaries and Islamic-era fortifications recording a thousand years of artistic exchange and the Gandharan school of Buddhist art. UNESCO inscribed the valley in 2003, placing it simultaneously on the List of World Heritage in Danger.