Remember Mes Aynak?

[littlemissmartypants]

2. It's the most fascinating, culturally significant place in the world to me.

I hope President Biden will reverse you know who's decision to withdraw the USA's commitment to UNESCO. That could be a significant move toward helping to preserve this remarkable place.

Jonathan DeHart
By Jonathan DeHart
June 10, 2013
Saving the Buddhas of Mes Aynak
Credit: Brent Huffman



Outside the village of Mes Aynak, in eastern Afghanistan’s mountainous Logar province, a burgeoning Buddhist center once flourished. In its heyday, this Silk Road hub thrived on trade between the Middle East and Asia, and hosted Buddhist pilgrims who helped spread the faith.

...while Europe was crawling through the Dark Ages, Afghanistan was home to Nestorian Christians, Persian Zoroastrians, Hindus, Jews and, finally, Muslims, in a tolerant, prosperous society....

...the 2,600-year-old site contains fortified monasteries, a Zoroastrian fire temple, several Buddhist stupas, more than 1,000 statutes and walls featuring frescoes of donor portraits and scenes from the Buddha’s life. Not to mention smelting workshops, miners’ quarters (even then the site’s copper was well known), a mint, two small forts, a citadel, and a stockpile of Kushan, Sassanian and Indo-Parthian coins.

https://thediplomat.com/2013/06/saving-the-buddhas-of-mes-aynak-updated/