Hans Grimm
Hotel Mustapha, restaurant
The Mustapha Restaurant in Bamiyan village, below the main, 80 m. high Buddha.
It was possible to make a walk over the rocks above the Buddha, from which you had a nice view over the valley. We visited the statues, which originally were painted and decorated. There were still traces of gold paint.
In the rocks there were niches. In the days when Bamiyan Valley was buddhist monks must have medidated there. (This notion gives rise tot the question when Bamiyan Valley was buddhist. I guess a lot of Afghanistan and Central Asia were islamised in the centuries following the rise of islam - 7th century. The Bamiyan Valley must have been buddhist before that period. Some sources date the statues back to the 3th or 4th century A.D.)
Hotel Mustapha, restaurant
The Mustapha Restaurant in Bamiyan village, below the main, 80 m. high Buddha.
It was possible to make a walk over the rocks above the Buddha, from which you had a nice view over the valley. We visited the statues, which originally were painted and decorated. There were still traces of gold paint.
In the rocks there were niches. In the days when Bamiyan Valley was buddhist monks must have medidated there. (This notion gives rise tot the question when Bamiyan Valley was buddhist. I guess a lot of Afghanistan and Central Asia were islamised in the centuries following the rise of islam - 7th century. The Bamiyan Valley must have been buddhist before that period. Some sources date the statues back to the 3th or 4th century A.D.)