Afghanistan: Buddhist frescos on a fragment of a cupola from the Kakrak Valley southeast of Bamiyan. Musee Guimet, 6th-7th century CE

The Kakrak Valley is one of three former centres of Budddhist activity in the Koh-i-Baba mountains of central Afghanistan, along with the Bamiyan Valley itself and the nearby Foladi Valley. About 100 caves and niches are cut into the low cliffs and hills here on the east side of the valley where it meets the main Bamiyan Valley. The large niche, 7m high, contained a statue of a sitting Buddha until it was destroyed by the Taliban authorities in 2001.

A sanctuary close to the niche, thought to be Sassanian, once contained brilliant wall paintings. The niches and sanctuary are believed to date stylistically from the 6th-7th centuries CE (Late Sassanian) and architecturally from the 9th-13th centuries CE (Turk /pre-Mongol Islamic).

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Pictures From History