Afghanistan Cultural Heritage

Museum Directories and Topographical Guides
Museum Catalogs/Sites
Web Sites: Gateways, Art and Cultural Heritage Sites
Selected Bibliography
     Encyclopedias
     Monographs
     Selected Bibliographies for Afghanistan
     Other Bibliographies, Indexes and Abstracts
     Bibliographies on the Internet
     Selected Art Journals
     Selected Histories, Travel Accounts, and Early Works

More than one scholar has called Afghanistan the "crossroads of the world" given its location on the Silk Route, with links to East and West. This short guide aims to provide an introduction* to resources for the study of Afghanistan's rich heritage from prehistoric to modern, representing many cultures, religions, and dynasties.

Museum Directories and Topographical Guides

Afghanistan: an Atlas of Indigenous Domestic Architecture. Davis NA7424.6.A1 S94 1991.

Archaeological gazetteer of Afghanistan = Catalogue des sites archéologiques d'Afghanistan. Davis Folio DS353 .B35 1982.

Art Museums of the World. Art Reference N410 .A78 1987. See Vol. 1, pp. 26-31 for a description of the destroyed and looted National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul, formerly Kabul Museum and officially Muzyam-Milli-Yi Afghanistan. Includes a short bibliography.

A Catalogue of the Toponyms and Monuments of Timurid Herat. Davis DS375.H5 A44.

The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Also in print editions at Art and Davis Reference. DE59 .P7. A key resource for the ancient Alexandrian cities, now Herat, Ghazni, Qandahar (a corruption of Alexander) Nikaia (Jalalabad) and others. Includes texts and bibliographies.

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Museum Catalogs/Sites

Kabul Museum

The Kabul Museum was once the world's richest depository of objects representing the region's long history.

Ancient Art from Afghanistan: Treasures of the Kabul Museum. Davis N7292 .R68 1976. An important catalog of an exhibition curated by Benjamin Rowland and sponsored by the King of Afghanistan.

Art Newspaper's Afghani Archive on the Cultural Heritage of Afghanistan, 1994-2001 includes full-text articles. Art Newspaper print edition in Art Library.

Dupree. "Museum under Siege" and update from Archaeology Magazine, with images of looted objects and a map of archaeological sites.

Bibliotheca Afghanica, Switzerland

Pillage of Kabul Museum. On the site of the Revolutionary Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) page, links to photos and documents on the destruction of Afghan cultural heritage.

(Virtual) Kabul Museum. Includes digitized images with brief identification, and links via the main page, Afghanistan Online.

See also: Celestine Bohlen, "Afghan Art Dispersed by Winds of War" New York Times, Nov. 1, 2001

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Other Museums

"Afghanistan, les tréors retrouvé" was on view at the Musée Guimet through April 30, 2007. This exhibition displayed more than 200 items from the collections of the national museum of Kabul. The objects were excavated from four major archaeological sites--Fulol, Aï-Khanoum, Tillia-Tepe and Begram--and date from the Bronze Age to the Kushan Empire.

"Afghanistan, a Timeless History" was on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in 2002 and 2003. The 110 objects exhibited were from several collections, including the Musée Guimet.

          L'Inde et le monde indianisé au Musiée national des arts Asiatiques, Guimet           N7301. M836 1992.

          Rarities of the Musée Guimet. N7262 .P4 1974. This exhibition catalog           includes an illustration of a Mughal miniature, "Surrender of the Town of           Qandahar," ca. 1640.

Catalogue of the Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum. Art Reference NB1007.G3 B75 1996. One of the greatest collections of Gandharan sculpture in the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art. Searchable collection and timeline. Relevant collections include Afghan costume, Asian, e.g. Kushan Empire, ancient Near Eastern and Islamic art.

Smithsonian: Freer Gallery of Art and Sackler Gallery. "The National Museum for Asian Art of the United States". Includes links to exhibitions and to Library Catalog.

Hermitage Museum. Several of the objects from the Hermitage collection are on loan to the Fundaçio La Caixa exhibition which traveled to the MFA Houston.

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Web Sites: Gateways, Art, and Cultural Heritage Sites

UNC Library Quick Reference for Afghanistan

Afghanistan (UNESCO). A major gateway for cultural heritage. Map, sites-ancient, medieval and modern; history, links, news see also Afghan Cultural Heritage Crisis.

Afghanistan Research Group (ARG). A gateway site with numerous links.

AfghanMagazine/Lemar-Aftaab. A popular online magazine which includes the visual arts.

Afghanistan 1969-1974 (Dr. Volker Thewalt). A major image site for the collections in the Kabul Museum, Bamiyan, etc. Color and b&w images of monuments and sculpture, photographed decades ago, that may now be lost forever.

The American Institute of Afghanistan Studies. AIAS is a private, non-profit organization run by scholars with the aim of promoting and encouraging the systematic study of culture, society, land, languages, health, peoples and history of Afghanistan. Includes a gallery with photos of Afghanistan.

Bilder vom Buddhistischen Erbe Afghanistans (Pictures of Afghanistan's Buddhist Heritage). Large color images from Bamiyan and other sites, photographed between 1966 and 1976 by Prof. S.W. Breckle.

The Road to Oxiana (Courtauld Institute). Photographs of Persia and Afghanistan taken by travel writer Robert Byron in 1937.

EurasiaNet.org's Afghanistan. With Arts and Culture section.

Institute for Afghan Studies. Site includes Afghan National Archaeological Heritage information, particularly on Bamiyan, and synopses of papers from a symposium held in 1999.

Lost and Stolen Images: Afghanistan Part of the Huntington Archive, an important site with Images of Bamiyan (colossal Buddhas and cave paintings) as well as objects photographed in the Kabul Museum in 1970.

Luke Powell's Photographs of Afghanistan Extraordinary color photographs with descriptive text, of major monuments, people, and landscapes.

New 7 Wonders of the World. Has images and text about the destruction of the two Buddhist statues. The organization is attempting to solicit funds for their rebuilding.

The Royal Graphical Society. The Society's Afghanistan collection features hundreds of rare images and photographs dating back to the mid-1800s.

Silkroad Foundation

Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage (SPACH) . An NGO partner with UNESCO - This link has been down for some time. We will reattach it when it starts to work again.

Virtual Afghanistan. A popular site with information on costume, cuisine, photographs of cities, etc.

Williams Afghan Media Project (WAMP). An online resource for the study of Afghanistan--a site for exploring Afghanistan's cultural legacy, historical development and present situation. Includes three still images collections.

See also resources in related Sloane Art Library research guides: Mughal Art, and the Mughal Garden.

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Selected Bibliography (in Art Library unless otherwise indicated)

Encyclopedias

Dictionary of Art. Art Reference N31 .D5 1996 See Vol. 1, entry for "Afghanistan". And online edition Grove Dictionary of Art. A comprehensive, up-to-date guide to the cultural heritage of Afghanistan, with links to individual topics and site, historiography, bibliography, background on museums. Includes searchable image links. An essential resource for initiating research.

Enciclopedia dell'Arte Antica, Classica e Orientale. Art Reference N31 .E48. See Vol.1 "Afghanistan" and Vol.2 "Kabul". The Encyclopedia includes illustrations and a short bibliography as well as cross references to other articles in the encyclopedias.

Encyclopedia of World Art. Art Reference N31 .E533 (1959-87) See Vol. 1, entry for "Afghanistan" by Mario Bussagli. Although now largely superseded by the Grove Dictionary of Art, it nevertheless remains an important resource, with plates, plans, and bibliography.

Encyclopedias, General

Encyclopaedia Iranica Davis Reference DS253 .E529 (1982-with supplements) Vol. 1, pp. 525-47 in the entry for "Afghanistan" is an exceptional English-language resource for archeology and art, with an excellent bibliography within the text, including the historiography of the subject. Includes maps of major ethnic groups and archeological sites.

Encyclopedia Universalis. Davis Reference AE25 .E58 and supplements. As much of the archeological activity in Afghanistan has been French, this encyclopedia is important. Vol. 1, entry for "Afghanistan" includes an excellent map of archeological sites and some small b&w and color photos (some of objects from the Kabul Museum). A lengthy section on art, with cross-references to other entries, such as Begram.

Gale Virtual Reference Library is a collection of 25 reference books and encyclopedias in electronic format. The titles cover a wide range of subjects, from the arts to medicine, and from multicultural studies to social science. Contains articles on Islam.

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Monographs

Allchin and Hammond. The Archaeology of Afghanistan from Earliest Times to the Timurid Period. Davis DS353 .A72. See also Hammond's 12/12/2001 interview on the Todd Mundt Show, in which he discusses the destruction of ancient sites.

Allchin et al. Gandharan Art in Context : East-West Exchanges at the Crossroads of Asia. N7291 .G36 1997. Papers from a major 1992 exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, "Crossroads of Asia: Transformation in Image and Symbol,"

Auboyer. The Art of Afghanistan. N7292 .A8513.

Auboyer and Hartel. Indien und Sudostasien, Art Reference. N7301 .H16. For excellent plates (color and b&w) of Bamiyan.

Ball, Warwick and Leonard Harrow. Cairo to Kabul : Afghan and Islamic studies presented to Ralph Pinder-Wilson. Art. N6260.C35 2002.

Barthoux, Jules. The Hadda Excavations. Art DS375.H3 B313 2000.

Cambon, Pierre. Afghanistan: une Histoire Millènaire. DS353 .A38 2002

Centlivres-Demont. Popular Art in Afghanistan : Paintings on Trucks, Mosques, and Tea-houses. Davis ND2824.6.A1 C45.

Dupree, Nancy Hatch. An Historical Guide to Kabul. Art Cage Annex DS375.K2 D8.

Gaulier. Buddhism in Afghanistan and Central Asia, NetLibrary and Davis N8193.A7 G38. Important volume in the Iconography of Religions series.

Ghirshman. Begram; Recherches Archéologiques et Historiques sur les Kouchans., Davis Folio DT57 .M4 t. 79.

Golombek. The Timurid Shrine at Gazur Gah. Davis DS375.G37 G6.

Grazda. Afghanistan Diary 1992-2000. Davis DS371.3 .G73 2000. For more than twenty years, documentary photographer Edward Grazda has been recording the changes in Afghanistan.

Hallade. Gandharan Art of North India and the Graeco-Buddhist Tradition in India, Persia, and Central Asia. N7307.P4 H313.

Harle. The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent. N7301 .H245 1986.

Hill. Islamic Architecture and its Decoration, A.D. 800-1500, a Photographic Survey. NA380 .H5 1964.

Klimburg. The Kafirs of the Hindu Kush : Art and Society of the Waigal and Ashkun Kafirs. DS354.6.K3 K55 1999.

Knobloch. Beyond the Oxus: Archaeology, Art & Architecture of Central Asia. Davis DS786 .K66 1972.

Knobloch, Edgar. The Archaeology & Architecture of Afghanistan. Davis & Art DS353.K66 2002.

Krieken-Pieters, Juliette van, ed. Art and Archaeology of Afghanistan : Its Fall and Survival. Art DS353.A78 2006

Maheshwary, Avinash C., ed. A Catalog of the Louis and Nancy H. Dupree Collection : Afghanistan, Antropology, Archaeology, Islamic Central Asia, Ethnology, Military History, South Asia and Related Subjects. Davis Z8249.7.M34 1994.

Mémoires de la Délegátion Archéologique Française en Afghanistan (Davis; volumes are cataloged separately). Major archeological reports, some of which are held at UNC.

Olesen. Afghan Craftsmen : the Cultures of Three Itinerant Communities. Davis Folio DS354 .O44 1994.

Rapin. Indian Art from Afghanistan : the Legend of Sakuntala and the Indian Treasure of Eucratides at Ai Khanum. DS375.A95 R3613 1996.

Rice, Frances Mortimer and Benjamin Rowland. Art in Afghanistan: objects from the Kabul Museum. N3750.K3 R5 1971.

Rice, Tamara Talbot. Ancient arts of Central Asia. N7260 .R5 Art and Davis.

Rosenfield. The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. N5899.K8 R6.

Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and Architecture of India. N7301 .R68. Chapter 11, "Afghanistan" provides a concise scholarly introduction to all periods, with glossary, plates, bibliography and footnotes.

Rowland, Benjamin. Ancient art from Afghanistan : treasures of the Kabul Museum. N7292.R68 1976

Salomon. Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara : the British Library Kharosthi Fragments. Davis BQ244.G35 S25 1999.

Sarianidi. The Golden Hoard of Bactria : from the Tillya-tepe Excavations in Northern Afghanistan. Davis Folio DS375.T54 S27 1985.

Sumner. Beyond the Silk Road : Arts of Central Asia from the Power House Museum Collection. N7291 .S861 1999.

Tissot, Francine and Dominique Darbois. Kaboul le passé confisqué: Trésors du musée de Kaboul 1931-1965. ART N7292.T57 2002

Warikoo, Kulbhushan (ed.). Bamiyan : Challenge to World Heritage DS374.B3 I617 2002.

Wenzel. Echoes of Alexander the Great : Silk Route Portraits from Gandhara : a Private Collection. NB1912.G38 W46 2000.

Wilson, H. H.. Ariana Antiqua: a Descriptive Account of the Antiquities and Coins of Afghanistan with a Memoir on the Buildinga Called Topes DS353.W55 1997

Zimmer. The Art of Indian Asia, its Mythology and Transformations. N7301 .Z49.

L'Afghanistan dalla preistoria all'Islam : capolavori del Museo di Kabul : Torino, Galleria civica d'arte moderna, luglio-agosto 1961. N7292 .A3411 1961

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Selected Bibliographies for Afghanistan

Goldman. The Ancient Arts of Western and Central Asia : a Guide to the Literature. Art Z5961.M58 G65 1991. A comprehensive annotated bibliography, with chronology, glossary, journal/ abbreviation list, list of other bibliographies, and index (see Afghanistan.) A supplementary volume of the Bulletin of the Asia Institute, it is an essential resource to use as a starting point in research.

Hanifi. Annotated Bibliography of Afghanistan. Davis Z3016 .H36 1982.

Jones. Afghanistan. Davis Z3016 .J66 1992.

Other Bibliographies, Indexes and Abstracts (in addition to the standard art indexes and abstracts such as Art Full Text and BHA)

ABIA: South and Southeastern Asian Art and Archaeology Index

ARTstor
This database provides curated collections of art images and associated data for noncommercial and scholarly, non-profit educational use.

Bibliography of Asian Studies

Creswell, K. A. C. A Bibliography of the Architecture, Arts, and Crafts of Islam. Art Reference Z5956.I8 C741 (also Davis). The major bibliography for Islamic art, to be updated soon and available as a website.

CAMIO
RLG's Catalog of Art Museum Images Online offers rights-cleared, high-quality art images for class projects, art history and studio art programs, course Web sites, lectures, presentations, and research resources.

The Creswell Archive: the Creswell Photographic Archive on CD-ROM. Davis Ref (Architecture of the Islamic world from Spain to Iraq, 7th-18th centuries) A database containing 6,523 images; it can be sorted, searched, and saved in sets. Both images and accompanying textual descriptions can be printed.

Index Islamicus
A bibliography of publications on Islam and the Muslim world since 1906 (see also print editions in Davis).

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Bibliographies on the Internet

ArchNet Digital Library Includes bibliographies, images, articles, books, links. A major gateway for Islamic architecture.

Gandhara Bibliography A lengthy, comprehensive bibliography.

Selected Art Journals (shelved by title unless otherwise indicated)

Archives of Asian Art
Ars Islamica (1934-51 only)
Ars Orientalis
Artibus Asiae
Arts of Asia
Asian Art
Islamic Art N6260 .I82
Mimar (Storage; non-current)
Muqarnas N6260 .M83
(see also Muqarnas supplements, Studies and Sources in Islamic Art and Architecture.)
Oriental Art
Orientations

Other Journals

Bulletin of the Asia Institute. Art N7280.A1 B8 n.s. See also the Bulletin of the Asia Institute's website with subject indexes to the volumes, and links.

UNESCO Courier (also print edition at Davis) searchable by keyword, full text with images, maps, etc. Se especially the article "Afghan heritage: Time for Exile".

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Selected Histories, Travel Accounts, and Early Works

Early travel accounts were the "first careful reports" on antiquities in Afghanistan.

Adamec. Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan. Davis Reference, DS356 .A27 1997. Useful A-Z dictionary with bibliography and chronology.

`Adb al-Karim Bukhari, fl. 1804-1830. Histoire de l'Asie centrale: Afghanistan, Boukhara, Khiva, Khoquand depuis ls derniéres années du regne de Nadir Chah… Storage DK858 .A64 1970

Bosworth. The Ghaznavids; Their Empire in Afghanistan and Eastern Iran, 994 : 1040. Davis, DS288.7 .B6 1963.

Bosworth. The Medieval History of Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. Davis, DS288 .B67.

Burnes, Alexander, Sir, 1805-1841. Travels into Bokhara; Being the Account of a Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia… Storage, DK873 .B9 1973. Early editions also in RBC.

Caroe. The Pathans, 550 B.C.-A.D. 1957 Davis, DS380.P8 C37 1983.

Dani, et al. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Davis, DS329.4 .H588 1992. This multivolume UNESCO initiative, written by specialists, has many useful links, including bibliography and a small image gallery.

Dupree. Afghanistan. Davis, DS351.5 .D86. See also the Louis and Nancy H. Dupree Collection at Duke University.

Elphinstone, Mountstuart, 1779-1859. An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul. Davis, DS352 .E5 1972. An important early work.

Moorcroft, William, 1767-1825. Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Panjab from 1819 to 1825. Davis, DS412 .M88 1979.

Stark, Freya. The Minaret of Djam: an Excursion in Afghanistan. Davis, DS352 .S72.

Stein, Aurel, Sir, 1862-1943. On Alexander's Track to the Indus; Personal Narrative of Explorations on the North-West Frontier of India… Davis, DS485.N7 S7 1972.

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*English-language sources and print holdings at UNC-CH have been emphasized, but extensive additional bibliography is available in the Grove Dictionary of Art, Encyclopedia Iranica and other cited sources.

Patricia T. Thompson, Art Librarian