Afghanistan in pictures

The land and its monuments, the painters and calligraphers of Herat, crafts and treasures, and colour photographs of Kabul and Paghman made in 1928, in the Kabul of the early chapters of My Ancestral Home.

39 picturesAll freely licensed, from Wikimedia CommonsPicture credits

The land

Mountains, rivers and valleys, from the Wakhan Corridor to Nangarhar.

6 pictures

Summer pasture in the Wakhan Wakhan, Badakhshan, 2019Benoît VicartCC0
The cliffs of Bamyan Bamyan, 2019MonikajoannahCC BY-SA 4.0
The Panjshir valley Panjshir, 2011Michael O’ConnorCC BY 2.0
Between Jalalabad and Kabul Kabul–Jalalabad road, 2008Todd HuffmanCC BY 2.0
Nangarhar countryside Nangarhar, 2010Todd HuffmanCC BY 2.0
Nomad tents Central Afghanistan, 1928Frédéric GadmerCC BY-SA 4.0

Monuments

Minarets, mosques, shrines and gardens built over a thousand years, and the Buddhas of Bamyan before 2001.

9 pictures

The Minaret of Jam Ghor, 2017AhmadElhanCC BY-SA 4.0
The Friday Mosque of Herat Herat, 2004Sven DirksCC BY-SA 4.0
The Musalla minarets Herat, 1928Frédéric GadmerPublic domain
The shrine of Hazrat Ali Mazar-i-Sharif, 2018AhmadElhanCC BY-SA 4.0
The towers of Ghazni Ghazni, 2014AhmadElhanCC BY-SA 4.0
Bamyan in 1976 Bamyan, 1976Marek GawęckiCC BY-SA 3.0 PL
From the head of the Buddha Bamyan, c. 1962Afghanistan in the Early 1960s (Flickr)CC BY-SA 2.0
Bagh-e Babur Kabul, 2016NinarasCC BY 4.0
Tomb of Ahmad Shah Durrani Kandahar, 1928Frédéric GadmerCC BY-SA 4.0

Painting and the written word

Herat’s painters and calligraphers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the Mughal paintings made for Babur’s heirs.

6 pictures

Building the palace of Khawarnaq Herat, 1494–95Kamal al-Din BehzadPublic domain
Alexander visits the hermit Herat, 1494–95Kamal al-Din BehzadPublic domain
Camel fight Herat school, c. 1525Ascribed to Kamal al-Din BehzadPublic domain
Babur lays out the Garden of Fidelity Nangarhar, c. 1590Mughal court paintersPublic domain
A page by Mir Ali of Herat Herat or Bukhara, early 16th centuryMir Ali HaraviPublic domain
Rumi’s Masnavi in the hand of Mir Ali Herat, 1524–25Mir Ali HaraviPublic domain

Craft and treasure

Tiles, pottery, carpets, music, lapis and gold.

10 pictures

Tiles of the Blue Mosque Mazar-i-Sharif, 2007Wendy TannerCC BY 2.0
Pottery of Istalif Istalif, Kabul province, 2010Tigerlily143CC BY-SA 4.0
Turkmen carpet Turkmenistan or northern Afghanistan, 1870sSaryk weaversCC0
Kilims Afghanistan, 2005Steve EvansCC BY 2.0
A kilim in Gordol Gordol village, 1976Marek GawęckiCC BY-SA 3.0 PL
The rubab Afghanistan, 2014Naveed.yziCC BY-SA 4.0
Lapis lazuli Badakhshan, 2013Didier DescouensCC BY-SA 4.0
Gold crown from Tillya Tepe Jowzjan, 1st century ADArtacoanaCC BY-SA 3.0
Head of the Buddha from Hadda Nangarhar, c. 3rd centuryDidier DescouensCC BY-SA 4.0
Ivory from Begram Kapisa, 1st–2nd centuryCleveland Museum of ArtCC0

Kabul and Paghman, 1928–1966

Most of these are autochromes, early colour photographs made in 1928 for Albert Kahn’s Archives of the Planet, in the last year of King Amanullah’s reign.

8 pictures