The two enormous niches cut into the sandstone cliff above Bamiyan town are now empty — and yet they remain one of the most powerful sights in Asia. From the 6th and 7th centuries until March 2001, they held two giant standing Buddhas, the western statue 55 metres tall, the eastern 38 metres. Both were finished with plaster and painted, and originally adorned with gold leaf. Xuanzang, the Chinese pilgrim who passed through in 630 AD, described their dazzling appearance.
The Taliban announced their destruction in February 2001 and finished the job in late March, after the international community failed to stop it. The empty niches and the surrounding cliff are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site — listed in danger — and the focus of an ongoing international debate about whether to attempt reconstruction. Most archaeologists argue that the niches should be left empty, as a memorial.
Behind the niches are hundreds of monastic caves carved into the cliff, many decorated with fragments of mural painting from the 5th–9th centuries. A staircase carved into the cliff lets you climb up between them.