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Bamiyan Buddhas (Bamiyan Valley)

Two colossal Buddha statues, 38m and 55m tall, carved directly into a sandstone cliff in central Afghanistan when the Bamiyan Valley was a major Buddhist centre on the Silk Road. Despite international appeals, the Taliban destroyed both statues with explosives and artillery in March 2001 - an act condemned worldwide as cultural destruction; UNESCO listed the empty niches and surrounding valley as a World Heritage Site in Danger in 2003.

Dated events and their evidence

• 550 CE mainstream
  the larger (55m) Buddha statue is completed source
• 2001 CE mainstream
  the Taliban destroys both statues with explosives source

Where

34.8286° N, 67.8272° E

Sources

• https://smarthistory.org/bamiyan-buddhas/
• https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/208/

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