Omara Khan Massoudi, Director of the National Museum in Kabul, took extraordinary personal risks to protect the cultural treasures of war-torn Afghanistan when the museum was threatened with looting and destruction. Now these irreplaceable artefacts have gained an international audience. From December 22nd, 2008, the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam presents ‘Hidden Afghanistan,’ an exhibition of 250 archeological treasures, most of them hidden or disguised during the war years. Since Massoudi was honoured for his work with a Prince Claus Award in 2004, the Prince Claus Fund has harboured the idea of bringing the Afghan treasures to a larger public. The current travelling exhibition appeared in Paris and Turin before coming to the Netherlands.
Translation of the catalogue to Dari and Pashtu.
The Prince Claus Fund, together with Oxfam Novib, financed Dari and Pashtu translations of the Exhibition catalogue. Dari and Pashtu are the principle languages spoken in Afghanistan. With these catalogue translations, a great deal of important background information on cultural heritage will become available to the Afghan people.
Three special evenings.
The Fund has organised activities related to the exhibition ‘Hidden Afghanistan’ on three Thursday nights in January, February and March 2008;
All of these evenings can be attended free of costs, Register through communicatie@princeclausfund.nl
31 January, 8pm, Beyond Testimony: Lida Abdul.
Afghan visual artist Lida Abdul was interviewed about her work by Raymond van den Boogaard, Cultural Editor NRC Handelsblad and nrc.next. It was also the presentation of a just published Prince Claus Fund Library book on her work, “Lida Abdul,”. This evening was presented in collaboration with NRC Handelsblad.
Lida Abdul (1973, Afghanistan), was forced to flee her country and had to live in asylum centres for five years before moving to the USA, where she studied art. She is a visual artist who uses diverse media, including video, film, photography, installation and live performance to explore and visualise issues of ‘home’ and identity. She was honoured with a 2006 Prince Claus Award for her battle against the widespread destruction of cultural heritage in her country. She was selected to represent Afghanistan in the 2005 Venice Biennale. Lida Abdul exhibits and teaches in Kabul and is co-editing an anthology of writing from and about Afghanistan. Read more about the publication Lida Abdul
7 February, 8pm, Jolyon Leslie, Head of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Kabul, speaks on endangered heritage in Afghanistan.
Through his work with the Agha Khan Trust, Jolyon Leslie is deeply informed about Afghanistan’s priceless architectural and cultural heritage. In the context of the exhibition “Hidden Afghanistan,” Jolyon Leslie gave a presentation on heritage that remains threatened. Ole Bouman, Director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute, moderated a discussion on the protection of built heritage in Afghanistan, both during and after the Taliban regime. In the presentation there was a focus on wilful destruction of cultural heritage during the past years, in time of the Mujahideen, the Taliban and more recently during the occupation.
The discussion provided a historical and contemporary insight into the dangers facing Afghan heritage and the initiatives of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in rescuing and conserving cultural heritage during the Taliban rule and today.
With support from the Prince Claus Fund’s Cultural Emergency Response (CER) program, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Kabul is restoring a mosque and a synagogue in the city of Herat, Afghanistan. Read more
13 March, 8pm, Museum Director Omara Khan Massoudi in conversation with Yoeri Albrecht about the preservation of the collection of the National Museum of Kabul during the Taliban regime.
Omara Khan Massoudi’s professional dedication and personal bravery has saved some of the world’s finest cultural treasures. When the Kabul Museum was bombed and looted in 1993, he inspired other members of staff to assist him in ongoing evasive action to safeguard whatever was possible and to assess and record the damage. He took extraordinary risks to preserve the most important items, secretly removing some to safe places and disguising others. Print and television journalist Yoeri Albrecht interviewed Massoudi and moderated a public discussion on the urgent need to protect cultural heritage, increasingly threatened by conflicts and disasters. Read more about Omara Khan Massoudi
Hidden treasures of Afghanistan
HRH Prince Willem-Alexander van Oranje has been presented with a copy of the Dari and Pashtyu catalogue of Hidden Afghanistan by Ernst Veen the Director of the Nieuwe Kerk. Written on the package is A Nation Stays Alive When its Culture Stays Alive
HRH Prince Willem-Alexander van Oranje at the Opening of the exhibition Hidden Afghanistan, on the right Ernst Veen, director of the Nieuwe Kerk and at the back on the left Els van der Plas, director of the Prince Claus Fund and Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You, Chair of the Board of the Fund
Lida Abdul in conversation with Raymond van den Boogaard in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam 31 January.
www.nieuwekerk.nl
www.oxfamnovib.nl
De Nieuwe Kerk, Dam Amsterdam
Open: Every day 10am - 6pm and thursdays till 10am. Closed on 25 December and 1 January
free of costs, Register through communicatie@princeclausfund.nl
