No subject

Gandhara was a former kingdom with a Hellenistic influence which
spanned the North West provinces of today’s Pakistan. This
civilisation, contemporaneous with the Romans in the west and the
Chinese Hans in the east, peaked between the 1st and 3rd century
AD, in the era of the successors of Alexander the Great and the
Kushan Empire.

A land of encounters, a land of Buddhism, invasions and
exchanges, but also a land of ancient culture and diversities,
Gandhara witnessed the birth and development of a brilliant
civilisation resulting from the conquests of Alexander the Great,
and Persian and Indian inspirations.

In this exhibition, statuettes or statues of Buddha and revered
deities (bodhisattva, etc.), low reliefs of temples and stupas,
will appear alongside terracotta and stucco items from
monasteries or palaces.

Gandharan art bridges the gap between continents, between western
and eastern cultures, offering a multiplicity of artistic forms
which invite us to discover a world where beauty and humanity
prevail.
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Comment: from wherever or whomever the objects in this exhibit
have been collected, anyone tempted to accuse it all as "looted"
treasure, should recall what would have happened to it had it
been stored in the museum at Kabul, or simply left on site.

JK