Deborah Klimburg-Salter, Professor of Art History, University of Vienna, Austria/ Assoc. Dept. of South Asian Studies, Harvard University; Philippe Delanghe, Head of Cultural Unit, UNESCO, Kabul, Afghanistan; Mohammad Fahim Rahimi, Director of the National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul

This event will take place online via Zoom. It is open and free to all, but registration is required. To register, please click on this link: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEqdeqvrzguHNzj-gnyumZ5ndGNr5x4xy2D.

Until its destruction during the decades-long war, the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul was considered one of the most important museums in Asia. Tens of thousands of unique excavated objects illuminated more than 5,000 years of Afghan history. The progress of the restoration of the museum in all its areas has been remarkable. But continuing violence and severe deficits in financial and human resources represent serious obstacles.

This roundtable conversation will address the present situation of the museum, the priorities of its director and staff, and visions for its future. The speakers will discuss the museum's immediate and longer-term goals in capacity building and the preservation of the country’s archaeological heritage, and they will address ways in which international specialists can assist with these efforts.

This is first in a series of events organized by the Forum on Cultural Heritage at Harvard, which aims to create a (for now virtual) meeting place for members of the university community and others who share a concern for the preservation of cultural, especially archaeological, heritage around the world.