The Herat Through Time: The Collections of Herat Museum and Archive

This book is the outcome of research conducted between 2008 and 2012 in the Herat Museum in the frame of the German-Afghan Archaeological Research Projects. Initially, work focussed on the documentation and conservation of the objects, conducted in conjunction with long-term training of staff from Herat and Kabul. When the refurbishment of the citadel by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture provided a chance to install a full-fledged museum with spacious exhibition halls, depots and a laboratory the project grasped the opportunity, supported by the Afghan and German cooperation partners and the German Foreign Office as funding agency. The exhibition halls opened in October 2011 as the first newly established provincial museum in Afghanistan with 450 objects on display, illustrating 4500 years of history. Since then, the museum has attracted many visitors to get in touch with their past, showcased in a historic ambiance and transmitted by educational material and booklets. The richly illustrated catalogue provides detailed descriptions of more than 800 objects. Presented in chronological order, they are placed in a broader cultural and historic context in essays written by various scholars.