March 1, 2001, part II

Taliban Begins Smashing All Afghan Statues

By Sayed Salahuddin
Thursday March 1 1:55 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The radical ruling Taliban movement began smashing all statues from Afghanistan's rich cultural past Thursday, defying international appeals to save the ancient artifacts. Taliban Information and Culture Minister Mullah Qudratullah Jamal said centers where the campaign had been unleashed included Bamiyan province -- site of two soaring statues of the Buddha hewn from a solid cliff that are the most famous relics of Afghanistan's history. ``All statues will be destroyed,'' he told reporters in the capital Kabul. ``Whatever means of destruction are needed to demolish the statues will be used.'' ``The work began early during the day. All of the statues are to be smashed. This also covers the idols in Bamiyan,'' he said. The Taliban -- a fundamentalist movement that regards all human likenesses of divinity to be un-Islamic -- rejected a last-minute U.N. appeal when its Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil told an envoy Thursday the movement would complete the destruction of the statues it regards as un-Islamic. ``The abandoned relics are not our pride,'' the official Bakhtar news agency quoted Muttawakil as telling U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan Francesc Vendrell, who arrived in Kabul with an appeal from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. ``Destroying them would not mean that the freedom of the minorities would cease,'' Muttawakil said. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news service later quoted Jamal as saying statues had been destroyed at museums in Kabul, the southern city of Ghazni, the western city of Herat and at Farm Hadda near the main eastern town of Jalalabad. Russia, Germany, India and Pakistan condemned the destruction and appealed to the Taliban to think again. Buddhist countries such as Thailand and Sri Lanka also have expressed alarm at the Taliban's focus on eradicating reminders of the centuries before Islam when Afghanistan was a center of Buddhist learning and pilgrimage. Egyptian Muslim intellectual Fahmi Howeidy said the Taliban edict ran contrary to Islam. ``Islam respects other cultures even if they include rituals that are against Islamic law,'' Howeidy told Reuters in Cairo. International alarm was first sparked Monday, when Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar ordered the smashing of all statues, including the two famous Buddhas that soar 125 feet and 174 feet above Bamiyan. The United Nations cultural agency UNESCO appealed directly to the Taliban to reverse its decision and also urged Muslim nations around the world to halt the destruction. Muslim Pakistan, one of Taliban's very few foreign supporters, joined the international chorus Thursday. ``Pakistan attaches great importance to and supports the preservation of the world's historical, cultural and religious heritage,'' the foreign ministry said. With the campaign already underway, Foreign Secretary Inamul Haque told reporters: ``We hope the Afghanistan government would give serious consideration to this international appeal, including that by UNESCO and others, and that they will not demolish the cultural heritage of Afghanistan.''

India Vows Action

India said it would try to stop the destruction. ``The government of India will raise this issue at every international forum including the United Nations. We will make all attempts to stop the demolition of Lord Buddha's statue,'' parliamentary affairs minister Pramod Mahajan told parliament.

Russia denounced the Taliban step as vandalism.

``This intention (to destroy the statues) can only be classed as an assault on cultural and historical treasures, not only of the Afghan people but of world civilization,'' the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday. ``The Taliban's vandalism against material objects of the rich spiritual heritage of the ancient Afghan world shows their clear enmity to common human values,'' it added.

Germany condemned the Taliban action.

``Germany is appalled by the willful destruction of cultural artifacts in Afghanistan. The damage to culturally unique Buddha statues by the Taliban cannot be justified,'' the foreign Ministry said in a statement issued in Berlin.

The European Union said it was shocked.

``The EU strongly urges the Taliban leadership not to implement this deeply tragic decision which will deprive the people of Afghanistan of its rich cultural heritage,'' the EU said in a statement issued by Sweden, which holds the rotating presidency of the 15- nation bloc. The Taliban steadily has conquered most of Afghanistan in recent years, and now controls its cities and highways. The destruction of artifacts has inflicted new damage to the Taliban's already-poor ties with most countries. Heavily criticized for its restrictions on women and for its public executions, the Taliban is recognized by only three states: Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan has suffered destruction at the hands of many conquerors in the past. Most recently it suffered a Soviet invasion in 1979, an anti-communist insurgency backed by the West in the 1980s and a civil war in the 1990s.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/

Taliban sentences Afghan cultural riches to dust

By Reuters
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban yesterday vowed to destroy all statues from the country's rich cultural past, declaring that the world- famous sculptures were un-Islamic. An early target, already rumored to have been attacked, would be Afghanistan's best-known archaeological site, the two towering Buddhas carved into a cliff face at Bamiyan. "There is a decision of religious scholars on this matter, this will be implemented - for sure," Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's ambassador in Pakistan, told Reuters. A delegation of ambassadors from a society that represents UNESCO were angered by the announcement. "The past of Afghanistan belongs to the Afghan people. Secondly, it is also world heritage," said Dimitri Loundras, the Greek ambassador in Pakistan and chairman of the Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage. Mr. Loundras said Taliban officials had refused them access to the Kabul museum - where he believed between 12 and 60 statues had already been destroyed - and had heard reports yesterday that one of the two unique Buddhas of Bamiyan had already been attacked. But Mr. Zaeef dismissed criticism as interference in the Taliban's internal affairs and religious beliefs. He said the action was necessary to ensure no one worshiped a statue. The Taliban, which has vowed to create what it sees as the world's purest Islamic state, has closed down television and banned photography of people in the more than 90 percent of Afghanistan it rules. "As Islamic sharia [law] orders the destruction of statues and considers the drawing of portraits a mockery to the servants of Allah, the destruction of any site decorated with pictures is necessary," the Taliban's statement said. After news of the order was broadcast, UNESCO immediately urged all concerned, especially Afghans, to "stop the destruction of their cultural heritage." "Situated at a crossroads of the ancient Silk Routes, Afghanistan enjoys a unique cultural heritage marked by multiple influences from Persia, Greece, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam," UNESCO said. Most statues date from nearly 2,000 years ago, when Afghanistan was a center of Buddhist learning and pilgrimage. They were largely untouched for more than a millennium after the arrival of Islam, surviving even the onslaughts of Genghis Khan in the 13th century and Tamerlane in the 14th century. The Taliban, facing severe criticism for restrictions on the activities of women, has had little success in its campaign to win international recognition as the government of Afghanistan. This will made it harder. "We are expecting that the international community will be very saddened about that, and then it might take some measures against the Taliban regime," Loundras said. "I'm sure the Taliban would like international recognition, but that will never come to them."
http://www.csmonitor.com/

From: Jonathan Sazonoff Organization: SAZ PRODUCTIONS, INC.
Subject:

Misc. notes - WWII Polish losses, Investigarte, & discoveries of ancient literature

Dear Subscribers,
Several items have crossed my desk that might be of interest. First, a website dealing with Polish artworks lost in the second world war - Wartime Losses:
http://www.polamcon.org/lostart/index.html

Next, an Italian PI has launched a site with a stolen art database (in Italian) "Investigarte":
http://www.investigarte.com/indice.htm

And finally, an archaeological story (of great importance) ran on the web several weeks ago. There is a chance that great literary finds from classical antiquity will soon be recovered at Pompeii.
New Tech Reads Ancient Roman Texts -- Discovery Channel -- scrolls, roman
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20010212/scrolls.html

Hope you find this information of interest.
Jonathan Sazonoff
Saz Productions, Inc.
http://www.saztv.com

Italian Police Recover Painting

ROME (AP) - Police have recovered a 16th-century painting by a German master that was stolen 28 years ago from a monastery near Florence, Italy's special art theft squad said Thursday. The ``Madonna and Child with St. John,'' by Lucas Cranach the Elder, has an estimated value of $5.7 million. It was stolen in 1973 from a monastery on a hill overlooking Florence, along with seven other artworks, which were also found. The Madonna was recovered in Turin in August by an undercover policeman who passed himself off as a potential buyer, the commander of the Carabinieri art theft squad in northern Italy said. Police kept their findings secret because the investigation was still under way. Three people were later put under investigation for smuggling stolen goods. The oil on wood painting has been returned to Florence, where it will undergo restoration before going on display at the Uffizi Gallery. Painted by Cranach in 1514-15, it carries the trademark signature of the German master: a winged snake.

The message below is subject to our disclaimer: http://museum-security.org/disclaimer

From: "Catherine Gason" catherine.gason@com.area.trieste.it
Subject:

Information on DigiEye

Our company, SyAC Srl, is the manufacturer of the DigiEye product line. Hereby we would like to send you information on our company and our products.
Company:
SyAC Italy
Via Caboto 19/1
I-34147 Trieste
Italy
Tel.: +39-040-826065
Fax: +39-040-8323723
e-mail: info@syac.com

SyAC was founded in 1988 and specialized in the field of automation. Capitalizing on its in- house expertise gained from the realization of security projects, SyAC has developed the DigiEye, an innovative multifunctional system for digital CCTV. The DigiEye, benefiting from the most advanced technology, offers a modular, reliable and user- friendly solution to the ever changing needs of the security market. Thanks to these features, the DigiEye has gained world-wide market success supported by an expanding international network of highly qualified partners.
Specialized in the field of automation, SyAC has developed the DigiEye, an innovative multifunctional system for digital CCTV. The DigiEye has gained world-wide market success supported by an expanding international network of highly qualified partners.
HTTP://www.syac.com

Product:

DigiEye is a complete integrated digital CCTV management system integrating in a single system box the functionality’s which to date have required several different devices. These functionality’s are fully implemented in specialised hardware & software implementing a fault tolerant architecture and include:
Digital video recording on hard disk and simultaneously on DAT (Digital Audio Tape) for all connected cameras; Motion detection, very powerful and flexible, active on all connected cameras. Image transmission high speed, high quality, over telephone lines, Digital ISDN lines, LANs or WANs. Digital image processing including zooming, brightness, contrast adjustment & image enhancement. Video matrix switcher up to 16 inputs and 4 outputs with possibility of sequential switching of either all selected cameras or only those where activity is detected. Alarm inputs and outputs management to control external alarm devices/sensors. Telemetry to control the use of pan tilt units and high speed domes including preset support with motion and alarm integration Communication and video centralisation: DigiEye, simultaneous to recording, switching and motion detection operations, can communicate with a central DigiEye system to achieve a wide spectrum of functionality’s which range from the simple transmission of live images to all the complex functions of a complete video centralisation system.
I stay at your disposal for any further information you may require.
Best regards
Catherine Gason