This presentation has been prepared for the Canadian Museums Association 2013 Conference in Whitehorse, Yukon (Canada), and presented on 30 May 2013. Next to addressing the varied setting of Afghanistan's complex cultural stratigraphy, it describes a few case studies of successful and not-so-successful endeavours in the area, stressing the need of an extreme flexibility in setting up a cooperation between museum professionals. This flexibility shoul not be just confined to the tools we choose, but should also englobe our values, strategies, and priorities. In this way, we'll be able to break the dichotomy of "giving a man a fish and feeding him for a day" or "teaching a man to fish and feed him for a life": going out to fish together for a while, each one will come back enriched from the interaction.

1. CMA Conference 2013
Whitehorse, Yukon, 27 May – 1 June 2013
“Fishing Together” – Building Partnerships
with Museums in Afghanistan
Alessandro Califano

2. Afghanistan, a Geographic Hub 1/3
A hub between East and West, and North and
South, Afghanistan shows human settlements
going as far back as 100,000 years ago, with
earliest Palaeolithic tools found near Ghazni, in
Dasht-e Nawar.
The first images of Afghan people can be found
in a relief along the stairs leading up to the
great audience hall of the palace of king Darius
I, in Persepolis.

3. Afghanistan, a Geographic Hub 2/3
ARACHOSIANS (Persepolis, Audience Hall – 6th
century BCE)

4. Afghanistan, a Geographic Hub 3/3
Different merchandises, religions, and cultures
travelled and linked together the
Mediterranean, the Ural-Altaic area, the Indian
Subcontinent, China, the Iranian plateau, and
the Arabic peninsula.
Zoroastrianism (Balkh), Buddhism (Bactria,
Bamiyan, Ghazni), Hinduism, Shamanism and
Polytheism (Kafiristan, now Nuristan), and
Islam (from the 7th century onwards) have all
built a rich stratigraphy of many cultural layers.

5. Cultural Stratigraphy 1/7
Noh Gonbad mosque, Balkh (9th century)

6. Cultural Stratigraphy 2/7
Balkh citadel (26th century BCE to 18th century)

7. Cultural Stratigraphy 3/7
Blue Mosque, Mazar-e Sharif (15th century), with
Manuscripts Museum

8. Cultural Stratigraphy 4/7
Buddhist monks' cells, Samangan (4th-5th century)

9. Cultural Stratigraphy 5/7
Durga head (4th century), Tepe Sardar (Ghazni),
now at the National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul

10. Cultural Stratigraphy 6/7
Man on horse (end 18th century), Kati people, Nuristan,
now at the National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul

11. Cultural Stratigraphy 7/7
“Tjumen' 82” graffiti (in Russian), scratched on dome of
king's Summer Palace in Tashqurgan, Afghanistan

12. Planning “Differently”
Cooperating in radically different cultural heritage
contexts requires much more than developing
new strategies for different storytelling needs.
It requires from us to deeply rethink what we take
for granted in planning, including our tools and
our very priorities.

13. Alternative Fire Fighting Measures
(Murad Khane, Kabul)
Ensuring an effective security systems against fire
risks where reliable water / power sources may not –
or not always – be readily available.

14. Energy Saving Measures
With the substitution of neon and incandescence
lights with LEDs we achieved over 90% of energy
saving, while both heat and lux affecting the artefacts
were very effectively kept under control (National
Museum of Afghanistan, 2010).

15. Different Planning Options 1/2
Motorway police emergency helpline in
Pakistan
Proprietary software solutions proposed:
• $ 60K US / year
• $ 400K US up front + annual SW renewal
cost + additional costs if number of lines
needs to be increased
Open Source solution, developed by local
engineers from scratch:
• 3 million rupees ($ 33K US) one time cost

16. Different Planning Options 2/2
National Museum of Afghanistan
$ 10 M US provided by foreign donors (2012)
Expected achievements:
• New wall and guard towers (doesn't look
much like an “inclusive museum” project...)
• Museum collections database from scratch
(over 70% of it already existing...)
What could have been done, instead?
• New adequate storage areas
• New facilities for visitors, employees
• Training, completion of existing database, ...

17. 
“Give a man a fish to feed him for a day”

“Teach a man to fish and feed him for a
lifetime”

Fish together...
…and both of you will have
a completely new experience,
enriching both of you
Flexibility as the Paramount Factor for
Planning in Critical Contexts

18. For further reading...

A. Califano, Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage –
Continuity in Change (2008) *

A. Califano, Archaeology – Hidden Stupa, Buddhist
Monastery in Samangan, Afghanistan (2010) *

A. Califano, 3000 Years of History. An Exhibition at
the National Museum of Afghanistan. In: MUSE. vol.
XXIX/1, January-February 2011, pp.34-41

A. Califano, Museums in Afghanistan – A Roadmap
into the Future (in: The Silk Road, vol.9/2011, pp.88-
103)
* see: www.slideshare.net/califano

19. Thank you! Merci ! ...Tashakor!
“A nation stays alive when its culture stays alive”
National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul