Established in Bagh e Bala Palace in 1919 and subsequently expanded to embrace the Monuments Department and Institute of Archealogy as sub departments, the National Museum was moved into its current building near Darulaman Palace in 1931. It contained a complete collection of artifacts representing Afghanistan through the ages, excavated from important sites around the country. Sadly during the wars of the 1990s the museum's collections were either looted or smashed later by the Taliban. Today the shattered National Museum building is slowly being renovated in preparation for the future reinstallation of that very small percentage of the original collection which survived.

During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s provincial museums were opened in Ghazni, Herat, Balkh, Nangarhar and Kandahar to house artifacts from their regions. During the fighting in the provinces in the 1980s these collections were sent to Kabul for protection. Ironically, the fighting in the 1990s saw the artifacts damaged or looted in Kabul. Director of Museums Omara Khan Masoodi plans to reinstall these collections in their respective museums and to establish a museum in every province to make the people aware of their heritage. The first step is to catalogue the remaining pieces and decide which are to be returned. The papers of transfer and the catalogue files were destroyed with the museums and this task will be heavily dependant on the good memories of the remaining curators.

An Ethnology Museum was established in 1982 in Chaman, Kabul to house over 1,000 relics of the different ethnic groups found in Afghanistan. The displays were shown in stalls or traditional house dioramas, along with furniture, costumes, tools and handicrafts. Separate displays of pottery, tiles, art and arms of the freedom fighters from the past were displayed in separate areas. The curators were trained in preservation, repair and display. In 1989 the Ethnology Museum was transferred to Kuti Baghcha Palace. However it was destroyed during the subsequent wars and many of its artifacts disappeared. Omara Khan Masoodi hopes in future to establish a new Ethnology Museum and organise touring shows of its artifacts with a view to introducing the rich cultural heritage of Afghanistan to the people of the different regions.

Use the navigation bar on the left to read more about museums in Afghanistan or make direct contact with organisations and individuals working in this sector through our KEY CONTACTS database.