ACADEMICIAN LITVINSKY: AFGHANISTAN'S TALIBAN-DESTROYED BUDDHA STATUES IMPOSSIBLE TO RESTORE








MOSCOW, March 9. /RIA Novosti/. There is no way to restore the Buddha statues that the Taliban are now destroying in Afghanistan's Bamian province, Professor Boris Litvinsky, academician of the Russian Natural Sciences Academy told Ekho Moskvy radio. "They can be remade from scratch by means of modern technology, but that would be novodel [modern fakes], not the ancient work of art," he emphasized.


	Litvinsky pointed out that the value of the statues, which, according to divergent estimates, date back anywhere from 1,300 to 1,400 ago, lies apparently in their antiquity. According to the academician, a whole cave architecture complex is located near the statue, with monks' dwellings decorated with paintings. "If the statues are blown up, [those] dwellings will too be destroyed, and they are [worth] dozens, if not hundreds of hermitages," Litvinsky said, referring to Russia's major St. Petersburg-based art  museum. "And all this [will be achieved] with a single blow, by a mere fancy of a Taliban mullah." He pointed out that the statues could have been bought out, as New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art had proposed. According to the academician, such a project would have been technically feasible "especially because this was once done in Egypt when temples were being flooded." "Back then, the statues were cut into fragments, transported [elsewhere] and then assembled. Of course, that would [have cost] millions and millions of dollars but the Metropolitan [Museum] could have raised this sort of money, if aided by other museums and public and scientific organizations," the academic explained.


	When pressed for comment on the idea to send a peacekeeping force into Afghanistan to protect cultural treasures, Litvinsky said, "from the emotional point of view, I am all for any measures, but if we consider this practically, [that means] we'd have to fight the Taliban." The academician stressed the fact that the statues' value was not solely cultural, but also religious. "There are hundreds of millions of Buddhists in the world and for them, those statues are a living legacy," Litvinsky pointed out.


	"At the beginning of the 21st century we have confronted the reality that civilization has not fully prevailed in the world. There are still regions, where genuine savagery reigns supreme," said the academician.