From Kabul to D.C.: Preserving and Presenting Afghanistan’s Cultural Heritage

This talk introduces the work of Turquoise Mountain, an NGO that has spent the last decade restoring the historic neighborhood of Murad Khani in Kabul, Afghanistan. Aside from restoring 112 historic and community buildings and working to revive Afghanistan’s imperiled craft traditions, the organization now develops exhibitions as well, most recently at the Smithsonian. Dr. Thomas Wide, Assistant Director for Special Projects at the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries, curated the recent exhibition Turquoise Mountain: Artists Transforming Afghanistan.

Presented by the Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, the Yale MacMillan Center’s Council on Middle East Studies, and the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.