An Afghan Buddhist fresco, destroyed by the Taliban, reproduced identically in Japan

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This is the message these Japanese researchers wanted to convey by reproducing identically a Buddhist fresco destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban in the Bamiyan valley in Afghanistan.

In order to preserve the spirit of the work, they used a mixture of traditional and digital techniques.

Six meters long and three meters high, this fresco depicted a blue Bodhisattva, a disciple of Buddha, who delays his accession to nirvana in order to remain among humans to help them.

A technique at the cutting edge of technology

Of this crime against world heritage perpetrated by the Taliban in 2001, only one fragment remains of this rock painting from the 7th century, pulverized with explosives. This is why the team of Takashi Inoue, professor specializing in Eurasian cultural heritage, created a digital model of its surface using around 100 photos of the original fresco taken by Japanese archaeologists before its destruction. These data were entered in a machine so as to engrave the exact shape in a block of polystyrene. A team of artists then took the hand and completed the copy using traditional deep blue paint.

”, rejoices Takashi Inoue.

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Japan has long been involved in the preservation of the archaeological and cultural heritage of the Bamiyan Valley. This is considered to be one of the cradles of Japanese Buddhism. Kosaku Maeda, Japanese historian and co-director of the fresco reproduction team says that "

"The dream of the historian would be to build a"

"in Afghanistan, in this valley victim of the Taliban and to exhibit the fresco there since"

", affirms t -he.

"

" is the term used by the reproduction team at Tokyo University of the Arts to describe this full-size copy.

After three years of hard work, it was exhibited at Tokyo University of the Arts during September and October, even as the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan.