In the year 643, the Chinese Buddhist monk Hsuan-Tsang traveled to the Bamiyan Valley in the highlands of central Afghanistan, a known center for Buddhist thought and a pilgrimage destination. Upon his arrival, he beheld a breathtaking sight—two towering Buddha sculptures, carved into the sandstone cliffs framing the valley. In his text documenting his travels, Tsang provided the earliest recorded description of the Bamiyan Buddhas—magnificent monuments resplendent in brilliant color and glittering gems, as glorious for their beauty as for their colossal size.

The Bamiyan Buddhas were monumental, 6th-century antiquities of profound historical and cultural significance that were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. It was a violent act of iconoclasm and intolerance, a repudiation of the Bamiyan Valley’s long heritage of multicultural and religious diversity, its archeological significance, and the wealth of ancient art and artifacts it hosted. Six months later, the Taliban’s connection to the September 11 terror attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center—and the visual and thematic parallels it created between the Buddhas and the Twin Towers—forever connected these ancient monuments to the pivotal events of the 21st century.

The High Line’s new Plinth commission—The Light That Shines Through the Universe, from Tuan Andrew Nguyen—is an homage to the Bamiyan Buddhas. Twenty-five years after the original Buddhas were destroyed, Nguyen has created this sculpture as an echo of these ancient statues—reimagining the Buddhas as symbols of human resilience and our capacity to rebuild. As the Plinth program was conceived to interrogate and challenge the concept of public monuments, this sculpture explores the loss inflicted on communities by war and conflict, but also the profound meaning that art can come to hold for a community.

Through their indelible place and influence in the arc of history to which they bore witness—in how their loss continues to reverberate and inspire—the Bamiyan Buddhas have defied their destruction, continuing to stand as a powerful testament to the power of art. Here is a deeper dive into the ancient monuments that inspired our beautiful Plinth.

CaptionPhoto by Annemarie Schwarzenbach

A cultural crossroads

The Bamiyan Buddhas not only heralded the Bamiyan Valley as a sacred Buddhist holy site, but also marked the crossroads of the Silk Road, a 4,000-mile network of land and maritime trade routes that connected China, India, and Asia to Europe and was active from 130 BCE to the mid-15th century. The many arteries of this bustling corridor of commerce and culture converged in the verdant plains of the valley, making it a popular stop-off for traders and merchants traveling the Silk Road.

For nearly 1,000 years, the Bamiyan Buddhas overlooked this vibrant exchange of culture and civilizations, religions, and art. In more than a thousand caves, monasteries, and sanctuaries nestled in the Bamiyan foothills, a thriving community of Buddhist monks harmoniously coexisted with the local inhabitants and the steady influx of international traders and travelers. In his writings, Tsang observed how weary merchants traveling the Silk Road—regardless of their faith or country—would find comfort in the Buddhas’ beneficent presence, welcoming them to take refuge in the valley.

Ancient origins

Carbon dating has determined that the Eastern Buddha, the smaller of the two, was built in 570 CE. It measured between 115 and 120 feet, and was considered a female figure. The larger, Western Buddha, measured between 175 and 180 feet, and was built around 620 CE. It was considered a male figure. Each Buddha was carved into an enormous niche, or cavity, with a rounded base and head to allow for the Buddhist practice of encircling the statue. Technically, the sculptures were reliefs—meaning they were carved directly into the sandstone cliff face and were not entirely detached from the stone. Prior to their destruction, they were the tallest statues of a standing Buddha in the world.

Aging through the ages

There are no images to document the Buddhas as Tsang described them. In the earliest known photographs of the Buddhas, taken between 1928 and 1931, the monuments are already devoid of color or adornment, their facial features and hands already lost. However, historical and archeological evidence support Tsang’s description of the Buddhas as he would have observed them. Historians believe the original faces of the Buddhas were masks constructed of wood, clay, mud, and straw. Similar materials were used to construct the Buddhas’ hands and other detailing. The sculptures were covered in stucco to smooth the sandstone surface, then painted with bright, colorful pigments. These pigments would have given the impression to the observer that metal and jewels were used in the fabrication—leading Tsang to mistakenly describe the smaller Buddha as being made partly of copper. Some prominent scholars contend that the face masks were overlaid with a layer of brass. This remains a matter of debate.

The faces of the Buddhas are believed to have eroded over time, leaving behind the featureless sandstone of the base sculpture. The lower arms and hands fell victim to both erosion and previous attempts at destruction.

For The Light That Shines Through the Universe, Tuan has crafted the hands of the sculpture from melted-down brass artillery shells unearthed from the Bamiyan Valley. They are fashioned as prosthetics, replacing limbs lost to ordinance.

CaptionPhoto by Carl Montgomery

Monuments of Gandharan art

The Buddhas were monumental examples of Gandharan art, which fused Indian iconography (depictions of the Buddha) with Greco-Roman/Hellenistic stylistic elements (such as the curly hair and flowing Roman robes, as these Buddhas were depicted). Gandhara produced the first renderings of Buddha in human form. The mud and straw plaster, stucco, and paint used to embellish the sandstone sculptures were also elements of Gandharan art, which flourished in the region that is now Afghanistan and Pakistan between the 1st and 5th centuries.

The niches into which the Buddhas were carved—as well as the surrounding Buddhist caves—were adorned with elaborate wall paintings and murals that provide compelling testimony to the rich interchange of cultures and civilizations along the Silk Road. While much of this art was damaged or lost during the Taliban’s destruction of the Buddhas, the valley has since been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with a massive, international effort underway to protect and preserve its remaining archeological and historical integrity.

CaptionPhoto by Françoise_Foliot

Local treasures

As Islam gradually replaced Buddhism in the region between the 7th and 11th centuries, the Buddhas remained cherished local treasures, regarded not as religious symbols, but as part of the region’s communal and cultural heritage. According to one local legend, the statues had once been lovers who had committed to spend eternity together. The statues were given affectionate nicknames: the smaller “female” Buddha was called “Shamama” (Queen Mother), and the larger “male” Buddha was called “Salsal,” which translates to “the light that shines through the universe.”

The Bamiyan Valley is part of the Hazarajat region of Afghanistan, home to the largest population of Hazara—an ethnic, Shi’a Muslim minority in Afghanistan that traces its roots in central Afghanistan to the 14th century. Historically oppressed, often brutally, the persecution of the Hazara intensified under the Taliban due to sectarian divisions between Shi’a Islam, which the Hazara observe, and the Sunni Islam of the Taliban regime. For the Hazara, the destruction of the Buddhas was another assault on their culture. It is believed that 15,000 Hazara have been killed by the Taliban.

CaptionPhoto by Afghanistan Matters/Eric Sutphin

The Buddhas’ destruction

The Bamiyan Buddhas survived various attempts to damage or destroy them over the centuries, including by the Mongol leader Genghis Khan in 1221. However, in early 2001, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar issued an edict ordering their destruction—claiming they were religious idols and therefore an affront to Islam. Over a period of 25 days, beginning on March 2, 2001, Taliban forces began bombarding the monuments with anti-aircraft weapons, rocket launchers, and artillery and tank shells. When this assault failed to obliterate the Buddhas, the Taliban drilled holes in the statues, rappelling down the statues to fill them with massive amounts of explosives.

Today, all that is left of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan is their enormous empty niches. But the memory and cultural impact of these monumental works have been given new life on the High Line with Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s The Light That Shines Through the Universe. In Nguyen’s own words, his sculpture seeks to transform “trauma into hope.” Hear directly from him; Cecilia Alemani, Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director & Chief Curator of High Line Art; and Alan van Capelle, Friends of the High Line Executive Director, on the origin story and impact of the High Line’s fifth Plinth commission in this new video.

The Light That Shines Through the Universe will be on exhibit on the Spur at 30th Street through October 2027. Learn more about the free, monthly lecture and meditation series we have planned around the new Plinth.

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