“Seeing a beautiful object in a glass case, you might not think of empty tombs in a faraway country.”
Forty years of war have not spared Afghanistan’s ancient heritage. Its archeological treasures have been looted and sold around the world. In this Sunday’s issue of the New York Times Magazine, I investigate the case of a stolen marble that ended up in Hamburg—and what the German museum that bought it did next:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/04/magazine/ghazni-panels-afghanistan-art.html
Ancient art is a new subject for me and I’m grateful to all the people who helped me navigate the Ghazni marbles’ complicated history, especially my friends in Afghanistan. I hope I’ve done justice to the many shades of gray.
