Tepe Narenj

2008 World Monuments Watch

Tepe Narenj is a Buddhist monastery founded in the fifth or sixth centuries in the Zanburak Mountains south of Kabul. The site comprises one large and five small stupas, cells for individual meditation, and five chapels adorned with miniature stupas, statues of the Buddha, and standing Boddhisatva figures. The iconography of these statues attests the practice of Tantric Buddhism in the area. Thought to have been destroyed in the ninth century by Muslim armies, Tepe Narenj was all but forgotten until the conclusion of the war with the Soviets, when it became the first post-conflict site in Afghanistan to be excavated. The site provides valuable evidence for the expansion of Buddhism in the region, and preserves several examples of sculpture made in the unusual method of clay overlaid with fabric and covered with stucco. The excavated portions of the monastery are now subject to erosion and weather conditions harmful to its fragile clay sculpture and building material. Although the Institute of Archaeology in Kabul has overseen temporary consolidation of the in-situ sculpture and the tops of the walls, the site's exposure to the elements is a major threat. It is estimated that the site can survive no more than two years without some kind of protection. Conflict in the Kabul area makes conservation fieldwork in the region extremely challenging, and often dangerous. It is hoped that listing will draw attention to the loss of cultural heritage as a by-product of the ongoing armed conflict in Afghanistan.