History of the Museum

In 1919 the idea for a National Museum of Afghanistan was first mooted. It formed part of the process of political, cultural and social developments that characterized this period in the beginning of the twentieth century of Afghan history. The National Museum was built in 1922 drawing on the results of excavations by local and foreign archaeologists. It was the intention to provide a safe haven for the treasures of Afghan culture. As far back as classical times, Afghanistan was an important area that drew on and assimilated a variety of cultures, and spread their influence via the Silk Road linking the primary cultural centres. These foreign influences prompted investigations by western researches into the routes along which the Europeans and Greeks penetrated the East, particularly Afghanistan with its wealth of remnants from the past. Around 100,000 pre-Islamic and ethnographic objects were preserved in the museum.

In the seventies the painful period of the National Museum began. A coup d’etat took place on 27 April 1978. Almost a year later, on 17 April 1979, in what proved to be a scientific and cultural disaster for Afghanistan, artefacts were transferred to the home of the Minister Sardar Mohammad Naim Khan. The artworks were removed hastily and without care. A few years later after immense efforts of the conservators of the museum and staff of the Archaeological Institute of Afghanistan the museum was reopened in its original state.

On 26 December 1979 the Soviet invasion started and caused great political instability and the destruction of the economy and cultural infrastructure. The security situation in Kabul continued to deteriorate and in 1988 the National Museum, in consultation with the Ministry of Information and Culture and security forces, proposed a number of works from the museum to be transferred to the custodianship of the then President of the Republic, Mohammad Najibullah.

Between 1992-1994 Kabul was laid waste in guerrilla fighting. In 1994 the National Museum was being used as a military base and defensive position and was hit by a rocket and burst into flames. In 1996 the Ministry of Information and Culture decided to remove the remaining collection to museum stores and the Hotel Kabul just a week before the Taliban seized power. The pieces brought to this hotel have been spared, but the museum stores have been looted and destroyed after the installation of the Taliban. At the start of 2001 the National Museum faced further disaster as the Taliban decided that all images must be destroyed. The Taliban installed a special group that was charged with this task, they destroyed around 2500 works of art. These barbaric acts represented an irreplaceable loss. Terrible damage was caused to every archaeological site in the country. Neither the coming generations of Afghans nor human history will forget this era of tyranny and destruction. The work of rebuilding the museum began in 2003 and continues to this day.