Historic Herat Under Threat

The minarets, domes and fortresses that pierce the skyline of Herat testify to its 2,700-year history.



As the gateway to Afghanistan from Iran, many important figures passed through the city - Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the Moghul emperor Babur. Some left their mark on the landscape and more than 1,600 monuments make Herat an important centre of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage.



But now the skyline of the city is changing dramatically with development that may threaten government plans to win it coveted World Heritage Site status. Afghanistan has only two such sites at present: the minaret and remains of Jam in Ghur province and the Bamiyan valley, where massive stone Buddhas were destroyed by the Taleban in 2001.



With foreign money flowing in, living standards have increased and a few people have become very rich. Taking advantage of their influence with central government, some developers have won permission to build apartment blocks close to historic sites, ignoring the municipality’s urban master plan.



The new buildings are now rising up right next to sites like the Great Mosque, the citadel of Qala-i Ikhtiyaruddin and the Musallah complex of religious buildings.



Experts in historic sites are concerned, and have been trying to stop the construction but their efforts have proved futile.



Ayamodin Ajmal, the director of maintenance of historic monuments in Herat, said, “The new buildings have caused considerable damage to the historic look of Herat. I’ve tried to take up this issue with the government office responsible for giving permission but nothing has been done. The construction of new buildings is still going on.”



A commission set up in cooperation with the department of information and culture, says Ajmal, has ruled that no buildings more than seven and ten metres high should be allowed in the old city and around historic sites respectively. “But new buildings are still being constructed, based on orders they receive from the capital,” he said.



Ajmal cites one case that concerns him. “The Farzad association, for example, built tall buildings along the street that leads to the Great Mosque of Herat. The municipality did not allow them to do so, but Kabul gave permission. Now they can build five storey buildings. If this building process continues, it will cause great damage to the historic identity of the city.”



The owner of the Farzad Business Association, Mohammad Mohammadi, denies doing anything wrong in putting up a six-storey building 200 m from the Great Mosque.



“I’ve got the official permission and all other documents from the capital. If the construction was not legal, why did they allow me to build? Now I’ve spent lots of money here, and I am not allowing anyone to destroy my building,” he said.



The mayor of Herat, Mohammad Salim Taraki, is reluctant to talk about the issue. Eventually he said, “Only if we get financial support can we implement the urban master plan and counter illegal building.”



Meanwhile, the building near historic sites continues, sometimes by rich and powerful people, but also by those with less obvious influence. Some time ago, the mullah of the 500-year-old Qawdal Mosque ordered the building to be pulled down so that a new one could be constructed. Experts say up to 100 monuments have gone in this way, an irreplaceable loss.



German archaeologists have been active in the area and have found relics dating from 2,700 years ago in and around Herat.



The United Nations cultural organisation UNESCO is gravely concerned about building near historic sites, and will send a delegation to Herat shortly to assess the damage.



A working group of UNESCO experts last year welcomed a commitment by the governor of Herat to work towards the preservation of the old city. UNESCO experts have already been active in advising on preservation of some of the monuments.



Afghanistan in 2004 placed Herat on its tentative list of sites for which it hopes to seek World Heritage Site status and the experts recommended that the process continue.



The working group said a World Heritage Site could encompass much of the old city or could be a smaller zone encompassing the Musallah complex and the 15th century Fifth Minaret.



World Heritage Site status involves a commitment not to harm the setting of a monument as well as preserving the structure itself.



If nothing is done to stop the construction, Herat risks exclusion from the list of historic heritage centres of the world, says Reza Sharifi, a local UNESCO official responsible for western Afghanistan. “If the government doesn’t meet UNESCO’s demands regarding maintenance of historic relics and monuments, and the construction of new buildings continues against the rules, Herat might be excluded from our list,” he said.



Nematollah Sarwari, the director of the department of information and culture in Herat, says the local government is trying to stop the construction, “It is very difficult. We have been able to stop construction of buildings near the Musallah complex but we haven’t been able to stop the Farzad association from building.”



If the building process continues, Herat will lose its historic identity, says Masud Rajayi, an archaeologist and professor at Herat University, “The government is aware of the problem, but it hasn’t taken any action. It is up to the people to do something about it.”



Sadiq Behnam is an IWPR-trained reporter in Herat.