proj

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THE BACTRIA CULTURAL CENTRE:

A UNESCO-sponsored project in Mazar-e Sharif, war-struck northern

Afghanistan – Success or Failure?

by Alessandro Califano

Introduction

The case study of a UNESCO sponsored cultural

centre providing on-site heritage related services

in northern Afghanistan, and of its background

– including the actions to foster traditional build-

ing craftsmanship and preserve immaterial cul-

tural heritage – is compared to two other cases,

in southern Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Though

not a complete success per se, this approach may

be seen as potentially useful in similar situations

in post-war and post-disaster countries.

Project's background and setting

About half an hour away from Mazar-e Sharif's

downtown area, driving east towards the border

with Uzbekistan, a new suburb is under construc-

tion. Stretched out to the south of the main road

leading to Khulm (the old town of Tashkurgan,

where the summer residence of the Afghanistan

kings used to be), right below the hills building a

geographical border to the vast northern steppe,

the construction dominates the lower lands. It is

a bit less dusty here, and there is a chance that

rivulets flowing down the mountain will make

their way to gardens and water reservoirs instead

of quickly evaporating in the desert plain, even

before reaching the Amu Darya river farther north.

It is for this reason that the area had always been

used as a pasture for sheep and goats by local

herdsmen. According to my sources, the whole area

was bought about five years ago, by or on behalf

of Tajik Governor Atta Muhammad. He is now con-

trolling the Balkh Region in the name of President

Hamid Karzai's central government after the pre-

vious local leader, Uzbek Abdul Rashid Dostum,

was called to other offices to the Afghan capital.

Measurements and subdivision of the whole area

in different-sized land lots followed quickly. Two

Inside the Bactria Cultural Centre land lot, looking south.

South of the Tashqurgan road to Mazar-e Sharif, a cultural centre named after ancient Bactria is being

built by ACTED and UNESCO in a new suburb. Started in 2007, it should be completed by 2017. But

UNESCO’s funds for the project are exhausted and no more funds have been found in the meantime, so

no further action has taken place since the building’s foundations were completed in late 2008.

In the light of a comparison between this project and another Bactria Cultural Centre built in Tajikistan, it

could be considered that the Afghanistan-based one is not a success so far. It is also perfectly clear

that in the current climate – where security concerns for other provinces have top priority – cultural

heritage issues are lagging behind in getting both funding priority and consideration.

However, UNESCO’s strategy of considering as the main requirement for the funding the production of

special dome tiles needed for the construction has been very effective: fostering traditional

craftsmanship and passing on a traditional, high-quality building technique to the next generation of

craftsmen is now a fact and so are the short and long-term benefits given to a local community in war-

struck northern Afghanistan.

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THE BACTRIA CULTURAL CENTRE IN MAZAR-E SHARIF

large roads were laid out through it, south of the

Mazar-to-Tashkurgan road, while various north-

south diversions drove straight towards the hills.

The very same reasons that made the area very

good for herdsmen made it an excellent choice

for builders and landlords too. In fact, a new sat-

ellite town dedicated to hosting foreign institutes

and affluent members of society couldn't have

been planned better: in the opposite direction of

nearby Balkh's notorious hemp (Cannabis sativa)

plantations, it enjoys a quiet and relatively un-

polluted position, with lots of space to be freely

rearranged, and with an extremely low acquisition

price to start with.

It is in this area that UNESCO and ACTED had planned

to built a new cultural centre. The Bactria Centre,

named after the ancient denomination of the wide

area ranging from the mountain ranges of Haza-

rajat up to southern Tajikistan, had to cover mul-

tiple functions. Firstly, it was meant to foster local

artistic efforts, and secondly to provide shelter

to temporary exhibitions of both contemporary

artefacts and of local archaeological findings. It

was meant to be a hub of cultural activities – part

museum, part incubator, part dissemination centre.

There had been some previous similar achievements

in the same macro region: on the one hand the

small on-site museum at Fayaz Tepe in Uzbekistan

and a Buddhist monastery blossoming near today's

Termez from the Kushan period down to the 5th

century, restored by UNESCO and the Japanese

government, and on the other the first Bactria

Centre established by ACTED itself in Dushanbe,

almost as soon as Tajikistan headed out of its

lengthy and bloody civil war1. Socio-economic

conditions in the three states being somehow

similar, though Uzbekistan was, and still is, far

better off than the other two, the past experience

suggested that the opportunity was to be seized

in the Mazar-e Sharif area as well.

Project's description – 2008

In an on-site visit I paid to the construction site

in October 2008, together with Czech fellow pho-

tographer Roman Pekar, ACTED's chief engineer

for all projects in Balkh, Mr. Isar, and Mr. Sayed,

who is monitoring monument control at ACTED,

told me that the actual construction work started

in 2007. The contract said that work should be

finished by 2017 although they were confident

to be able to have everything ready by 2013. The

project, for which UNESCO had generously contri-

buted, was developed by architects of the Russian

Federation and was then handed out to the local

branch of ACTED by UNESCO's office in Tashkent,

which provided the funds. This might have been

a rather uncommon procedure since Afghanistan

already had its own UNESCO office in Kabul at

Rendering of the Bactria Cultural Centre.

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Looking south-east at the building’s eastern entrance to the inner court.

ALESSANDRO CALIFANO

that time. Ancient Bactria covered, however, the

three locations, each now belonging to a different

state. And since Barry Lane, at that time head of

the UNESCO office in Tashkent, was very active in

fostering both the Fayaz Tepe project in Termez

and the first Bactria Centre in Dushanbe, it made

sense that the impulse should come from one and

the same source – and some of the funds, as well.

At the time of my visit, the about 8,000 square

metre land lot was evened and fenced, while the

building's foundations had been thoroughly laid

out, emerging from the slightly sloping ground

about 1.2 meters on the southern end to 1.6 meters

on the northern end. The platform was laid out

in a east-west direction, the north-south sides

being the shortest. The main entrance was on

the eastern side. Inside the one-storey building,

chambers were clearly outlined in two rows: to-

wards the outside the somewhat more spacious

ones and looking towards the inner court the

less spacious ones. The wide central court was

going to be landscaped as a garden while the

vast outer space had room enough for another

garden as well as for a large parking place. All

chambers were going to be covered by circular

domes, for which special tiles had been provided.

In fact, UNESCO's main strategy was to foster tra-

ditional craftsmanship, and the funds provided

were also meant to cover the production of the

special dome tiles which were considered the

main requirement for the granted funding. Neatly

stacked along the southern fence of the land lot,

two brands of tiles were in fact waiting to be set

in place. One was the coarser, rather fragile sort

of semi-industrial construction bricks every con-

Looking north-west over the building’s foundations.

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Looking south – ordinary (left) and special tiles (right) are heaped at the entrance.

THE BACTRIA CULTURAL CENTRE IN MAZAR-E SHARIF

struction worker uses in the area, those bricks that

one can see being baked at small local manufac-

turing plants all around in the plains, high chim-

neys puffing out vast amounts of pollutants and

fumes. The second ones were of a completely dif-

ferent kind: traditionally used in the region of

Balkh for local long-lasting buildings, these tiles

where comparatively larger, smoother and heavier.

Completely handmade, the latter are prepared

using a thick clay mix pressed into wooden forms,

where the tiles rest for a while to let the water

drip out, to finally be set out into the sun to dry

out until hard. Resistance testing to both impact

and pressure assure these tiles to be much more

long-lasting than the usual construction bricks.

The lengthy and accurate human labour involved

in the production process, as well as the much

higher care in choosing the raw material, caused

however these techniques to be not only neglected,

but even almost forgotten in present-day archi-

tecture, even in a region that had been originally

famous for this very same high-end quality product.

Project's description – 2009

I had the opportunity to travel back to Afghanistan

less than a year later, in May 2009, for a Kabul-

based UNESCO consultancy contract. Though this

of course implied that I would not have a chance

to visit again the Bactria Centre building site on

this occasion, I could nevertheless contact ACTED

for a briefing about the further development since

my previous visit to the country. Sadly, not very

much has moved since. The funds granted by

UNESCO have paid for the construction of the build-

ing's foundations, as well as for hoarding bricks

and tiles for the further construction needs, but

are now exhausted. In the mean time, no more

funds have been found, and no more action has

taken place.

In fact, even the first phase had been a pretty dif-

ficult one, as confirmed by two sources: despite

having the approval of Balkh's Governor Atta him-

self, as well as being able to rely on UNESCO funds

for the foundations, there was much wrangling

to gain approval for the rest of the construction.

There was even the impression of some interfer-

ence from the government side regarding this is-

sue. On the other hand, as was perfectly clear and

well stated by everybody, in the current climate

– seeing security concerns for other provinces

having top priority – it seemed that Culture was

definitely lagging behind in getting both funding

priority and consideration.

ACTED itself had been very restricted in its action

by not having enough funds. To this came staff

changes in the Afghan offices of the NGO and a

rising number of projects, so that they hadn't been

in a condition to really follow up on this project.

However, they were still hoping to come back to

it in 2010, and would still continue to be looking

for funds. But in comparison to the previously ac-

From left to right: measuring the regular construction tiles; measuring the special dome tiles – height; and measuring the spe-cial dome tiles – width.

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ALESSANDRO CALIFANO

tivated Bactria Centre in Dushanbe, it was evident

that the situation in Afghanistan was either much

more complex or, to say the least, by far not as

positive in its medium-term prospective outcome.

An evaluation attempt

In the light of a comparison between the past and

the prospective evolution of the two Bactria cul-

tural centres, the one in Dushanbe and the one

being presently built in Mazar-e Sharif (the mu-

seum at Fayaz Tepe being a positive achievement

obtained on a much smaller scale), it could be de-

duced that the Afghanistan-based centre wasn't

a success so far. Even more, that the continuing

conditions of social and political uncertainty in

many areas of the country, together with rising

security and military related concerns, let many

further difficulties be viewed ahead.

Nevertheless, it wouldn't be completely fair to let

an evaluation rest entirely on this basis. With the

completion of the foundations and the prepara-

tion of all the tiles and bricks needed for further

building, the most arduous part of the work has

been done. Neatly sheltered under a double lay-

er of plastic sheets and earth, the bricks, and

even more the tile stacks, are securely protected

for future use, while the presence of guards on

site should deter theft. On the other hand, bricks

being readily (and cheaply!) available in the whole

area – and tiles being of uncommon use – theft

prevention partially lies in the materials them-

selves. The relative optimism of engineer Isar re-

garding a timely completion of the whole building

can thus be better understood: even a long inter-

ruption of work at the construction site will not

damage the part of the building completed so far,

much less the material to be used to complete it.

Right: Covering the special tiles to protect them even in the case of a long interruption of work at the construction site.

Above: ACTED Chief Engineer Isar with a large fragment of the special tiles and detail of a special tiles fragment.

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THE BACTRIA CULTURAL CENTRE IN MAZAR-E SHARIF

Funds for another year of activity should possibly

bring it to its final shape, while some more time

would of course be needed for its inner decoration,

landscaping, and eventually planning its activities

– which will probably prove the toughest task to

fully achieve.

But if time schedule and milestones for bringing

the building process to an end are to be considered

more or less adequate, (while only time will tell

what will become of the original plan to make it

function as a hub for multi-purpose, heritage re-

lated activities, and whether it will compare to the

lively proposals of its twin in Dushanbe), there is

still another point to take into account.

Choosing the peculiar and lengthy production pro-

cess of old-fashioned hand-made tiles as the main

requirement for their funding, UNESCO has had a

primary role both in fostering traditional crafts-

men's knowledge and passing it on to a younger

generation of Afghan craftsmen, and in working

towards the completion of a real and contemporary

model that could proudly stand against the usual,

pre-fabricated concrete-and-iron building solu-

tions. This choice would then represent a real al-

ternative solution, challenging the nefarious im-

pact of mainstream cash-related building solutions

which have no spin off effects at all on the local

economy. Far from compromising with “modern”

techniques, which in the end are generally revealed

as only apparently cheaper than traditional build-

ing solutions – and certainly much less environ-

mentally friendly – Barry Lane's project chose to

involve local work forces, letting them participate

in a complex but sustainable training and produc-

tion process.

Even if the final product of the Bactria Centre pro-

ject seems still to be largely floating in the future

this at least has been already achieved: passing

on a traditional, high-quality building technique

to the next generation of craftsmen is now already

a fact. It can be considered a healthy and sound

approach, combining traditional craftsmanship

training, planning and actual building, with the

help of external funds to foster sustainability and

economy in a destitute, war-struck area. With all

its shortcomings, it should be considered as a good

case-study of how immediate and long-term bene-

fits can be given to local communities, and of what

could be done – or maybe rather: could and should

have been done – in Afghanistan, to effectively

help a country disrupted by 30 years of war.

Notes

[1] Bactria Cultural Centre, Tajikistan, URL

(last consulted on 4 November 2010)

All pictures © Alessandro Califano, 2008

ALESSANDRO CALIFANOCuratorContact: califano.a@mclink.it

Italian national, a Ph.D. in Oriental Studies,

Alessandro Califano has been Research Scholar at

J. Nehru University’s School of Social Sciences (New

Delhi), and Research Fellow in Museum Studies at

the UBC’s Museum of Anthropology (Vancouver).

Senior Curator at Rome’s Heritage Department, he

is also working on material and immaterial cultural

heritage related projects as a free-lance Cultural

Consultant in the Baltic area for the Italian Minis-

try of Foreign Affairs, and in Central Asia (Uzbe-

kistan, Afghanistan) for UNESCO. He is a member

of ICOM, ICOMOS-UK, and the Canadian Museums

Association.

Websites:

http://museumstudies.tumblr.com

http://twitter.com/a_califano

http://www.slideshare.net/califano

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ALESSANDRO CALIFANO