Herat Province is located in north west Afghanistan bordering Iran, with a population of 1,853,930 and an area of 16,107 square miles. The capital Herat is the third largest city in the country and, as mentioned in the Avesta, is thought to have flourished in 1500 BCE. Of strategic importance for centuries, Herat was a city of culture in the 11th century, during the Timurud period in the 14th century and again in the early 16th century. It contains numerous monuments, notably the Masjid e Ja’mi, the Musallah and the shrine of the Sufi poet Abdullah Ansari. Prior to the conflicts Herat had one of five provincial museums. Resistance in Herat to the Soviet regime resulted in bloody reprisals. Although requested to send the artifacts to Kabul, Ismail Khan decided to keep them in Herat. The Taliban’s takeover resulted in the smashing of some objects that depicted animal or human forms. It is the least damaged of all the provincial museums but is in the Arg or Citadel and the public is not allowed to visit without permission, as the site is also a military base.