Aynak Copper Exhibition
Wednesday, 09 May 2012 00:00
Mes Aynak site is located 38 km south of Kabul and 18 km east of Kabul- gardez highway close to the trade routes to India which was a part of famous silk routes at 2450 meters above the sea level. First surveyed in 1963, official salvage excavations led by the National Institute of Archaeology started in 2009 after that an agreement was signed between the Afghan government and MCC, the Chinese mining interest, to resume the extraction of copper at Mes Aynak. Excavations are ongoing. The archaeological deposits of Mes Aynak stretch over four thousand hectares. Thus far, three areas of the site have been explored through excavations; these include Gol Hamid where Pa Buddhist temple was first discovered; Kafiriat Tepe with a second monastic complex, and Baba Wali which is chosen to the ancient mine’s galleries.
Mes Aynak represents one of the most important sites to be discovered in Afghanistan and probably has been inhabited at least from the Bronze Age.
The architecture and artefacts discovered so far date to the Kushan and Kushan- Sassanian periods, from the 2nd century AD to the emergence of Islam in the 8th century AD. The vast quantity and the high quality of the coins, ceramics, wall paintings, unbaked clay sculptures and stone reliefs make Mes Aynak comparable to such contemporary Buddhist sites as Hadda or Bamiyan and shows the richness of art and wealth of local rules and people.
You can download Mes Aynak Booklet.
International Architectural Ideas Competition
On behalf of the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC), representing the government of the Islamic republic of Afghanistan and supported by the Government of the United States of America and the U.S. Embassy in kabul, S.E.E. office for architecture and design is pleased to ... more
