The Schøyen Collection and manuscripts "illicitly" exported out of Afghanistan
http://folk.uio.no/atleom/manuscripts.htm
Some time after the Taliban came into power a collection of Buddhist
manuscripts from Afghanistan were acquired by The Schøyen Collection,
Oslo, Norway. The manuscripts are often referred to as the "Dead Sea
scrolls of Buddhism". This web-page presents the current debate
concerning the ownership of these manuscripts, but also links to
general web-pages about Afghanistan and cultural property issues.
The Schøyen Collection is allegedly one of the largest private
collections of ancient manuscripts in the world. The single largest
group of manuscripts in the collection are the aprox. 1400 Buddhist
manuscripts from Afghanistan taken out after Taliban came to power.
The manuscripts were found in a cave close to Bamiyan, and they might
be part of a library that was damaged in the late 7th or 8th century.
The manuscripts were made available for researchers after the
purchase, and an international research group, directed from the
University of Oslo and the Centre for Advanced Study (Oslo), aims at
investigating and publishing them.
However, the owner of the collection, Mr. Martin Schøyen, has
announced that he wishes to sell his entire collection at an assumed
market price of about 100 million USD. The proceeds are to be donated
to a humanitarian fund named in his honour. Officials in Norway have
argued that the Norwegian state should buy the entire collection at
market price. The crux of their argument is that the manuscripts in
The Schøyen Collection should be viewed as a "world heritage", and as
such the Norwegian authorities should take care of the collection.
Acquiring the collection would also offer a unique opportunity of
enhancing national prestige.
The position taken by the owner of this web-page is, however, that the
Buddhist manuscripts from Afghanistan should be returned to
Afghanistan when conditions permit. It should also be emphasised that
care should be taken not to stimulate the illicit trade of cultural
objects.
The links at http://folk.uio.no/atleom/manuscripts.htm provide more
detailed information about The Schøyen Collection, the debate
concerning the Buddhist manuscripts from Afghanistan, but also general
information about cultural property issues.