Rev. Danny Fisher

The Associated Press reports today that German scientists believe that it may be possible to reconstruct one of the Buddha statues in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley that were destroyed in March of 2001 by the Taliban.

Researchers have studied several hundred fragments of the sandstone statues that once towered up to 180 feet (55 meters) high in Bamiyan province, and found that they were once brightly colored in red, white and blue, said Erwin Emmerling of Munich’s Technical University.

The professor of restoration and conservation science, who visited the UNESCO world heritage site about 15 times since 2007, says research has shown that the smaller one of the pair – some 125 feet high (38 meters)- could be reconstructed with the recovered parts even though there are “political and practical obstacles” to overcome.

“Conservation of the fragments would require the construction of a small factory in the Bamiyan Valley – alternatively some 1,400 rocks weighing up to two tons each would have to be transported to Germany,” the university said in a statement Friday.

Emmerling is to present the findings at a UNESCO conference on the Buddha statues’ future starting Wednesday in Paris. The Afghan government, whose representatives are also attending the expert meeting, will ultimately decide on the statues’ fate.

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