Buddha statues in Afghanistan might be restored and erected again

The New 7 Wonders Foundation has planned its work in three main steps as follows:

Step 1: In co-operation with the Afghanistan Museum and with the support of experts from German, Austrian and Swiss universities, they plan to make a 3-D representation of the statues with computers that use existing surveyor records. The results from this project can be viewed on Internet immediately.

Step 2: Construct a study model on a scale of 1:10 at a height of 5.3 meters using the readings of the 3-D representation. The venue will be the Afghanistan Museum. For they who are interested a miniature Buddha statue of around 25 cm, it can also be made for sale. The price will depend on the demand.

Step 3: Organise a worldwide campaign to raise funds in order to rebuild the Buddha statue to its original height of 53 meters using the most modern technology.

Hopefully will the political situation in Afghanistan soon be stable so the work can start. It would be interesting to see the result of these fantastic monuments.

Stein Morten Lund, 23rd November 2001

Additional information

The New 7 Wonders Foundation has the following web address: http://www.new7wonders.org/e/index.html

This website offers you the chance to participate in an Internet vote to choose the New 7 Wonders of the World and participate in other polls. The New 7 Wonders Foundation is established and committed to the realization of the long-term goal of Bernard Weber, founder of the New 7 Wonders Society, to document, preserve, restore and reconstruct cultural heritage. The organizations` motto is: Our heritage is our future. The New 7 Wonders Society invites all to join the New 7 Wonders Foundation.

The World Heritage List World Heritage Committee has inscribed 690 properties on the World Heritage List. They are 529 cultural, 138 natural and 23 mixed properties in 122 States Parties. The World Heritage List was established under terms of The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage adopted in November 1972 at the 17th General Conference of UNESCO.

The Convention states that a World Heritage Committee "will establish, keep up-to-date and publish" a World Heritage List of cultural and natural properties, submitted by the States Parties and considered to be of outstanding universal value.