Architecture as a Symbol of National Identity in Afghanistan

Myth and reality in the reconstruction process of Kabul

By Christine Issa – There is a strong connection between the heterogeneous linguistic, ethnic and religious culture of Afghanistan and its varied landscapes of mountainous areas as well as desert and steppes. Afghanistan’s architecture is influenced by this cultural and natural environment. It reflects the country’s checkered history and thus is marked by Persian, Indian and Central Asian influences. Not only has every period, Iranian-Zoroastrian, Indian-Buddhist or Islamic, made its mark on the country’s cultural „make-up“, but every new occupying power tried to remove the heritage of its predecessors. The capital Kabul today mirrors the country’s often dramatic and mostly violent past.

ISSA, C. (2006): Architecture as a Symbol of National Identity in Afghanistan. Myth and reality in the reconstruction process of Kabul. In: Geographische Rundschau International Edition Jg. 2, H. 4, S. 27-32.

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Geographische Rundschau International Ed.