Japanese archeologists have worked on sites in Afghanistan for many years, and while Shairazuddin was visiting Japan they offered the National Museum old photographs of lost or damaged Afghan artifacts for its archives. The Museum’s Director of Restoration Shairazuddin Saifi was in the building when the Taliban came with hammers and smashed many of its priceless pieces. This most useful gift from Japan will enable his restorers to repair crates of broken artifacts using the old photographs as a guide. Shairazuddin was invited to visit Japan in March 2003 and spend two weeks touring museums and restoration rooms there. The tour included the Tatagi Museum, which houses wooden statues that were repaired after being burned. They are of course very different from the Nuristani wood pieces which were used as grave markers and later defaced by the Taliban, but the restoration and preservation work done by the Japanese was impressive. While Afghan restorers must make do with the most basic tools and facilities, the Japanese have dedicated laboratories with state-of-the-art equipment and expensive supplies. Ceramics, wood, paper and handicrafts are cared for in different rooms, each with their own computer-controlled climate. It takes a good imagination to envision the Kabul Museum in the future with the same equipment and space. The restoration room on the ground floor is anything but climate controlled. Cold in winter, it has no insulation and the staff must work with their coats and hats on. Tools and equipment are minimal and supplies are currently limited to a few chemicals donated by the Japanese. The British Museum has donated ‘restoration in a box’ supplies which will be sent to Kabul in late 2003.

What the Afghans must do by hand is carried out in Japan by machines which use X-rays and gamma rays to assess the artifacts. ‘We’re the same though’, says Shairazuddin, ‘we love our artifacts whether or not we work with fast high-tech machines.’

The tour to Japan not only gave Shairazuddin a glimpse of the present level of restoration abroad but also inspired him with new ideas for display and interpretation of artifacts and even services for visitors.

The next step is to send others to regional museums to study specific types of restoration for a longer period of time, or ideally to bring restorers into the National Museum to work alongside the staff. There are currently no restoration or conservation courses in Afghanistan and restorers apprentice with the older masters. Shairazuddin worked under Ustaad Sharbaz and later went to Lucknow Museum in India to specialise in ivory preservation and restoration. He says that the National Museum appreciates all types of help from all countries, but cautions: ‘They must come to visit us in Kabul so they will understand how we must work.’

And his next project? Acquiring computer skills.