Ajina tepe

Ajina tepe
	Ajina tepe
	View of Ajina-Tepe
	Shown within West and Central Asia Ajina tepe (Bactria) Ajina tepe (South Asia) Ajina tepe (Tajikistan)
Location	Tajikistan
Coordinates	37.7980°N 68.8544°E
Type	Buddhist cloister

Ajina tepe is an ancient Buddhist cloister situated at a distance of 12 km east from the city of Kurgan-Tiube, Tajikistan. The site is being considered to be put on the World Heritage list of sites that have "outstanding universal value" to the world.[1]

Buddhism in Tokharistan is said to have enjoyed a revival under the Western Turks. Several monasteries dated to the 7th-8th centuries display beautifull Buddhist works of art, such as Kalai Kafirnigan, Ajina Tepe, Khisht Tepe or Kafyr Kala, around which Turkic nobility and populations followed Hinayana Buddhism.[2]

World Heritage Status

This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on September 11, 1999 in the Cultural category.

Mural from the Buddhist Monastery at Ajinateppe, National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan
Ajina-Tepe Buddhist mural, Tajikistan, 7th-8th century CE
13 meter-long sleeping Buddha (Buddha in Nirvana). National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan
Head of the monumental reclining Buddha

Notes

World Heritage Center: The Criteria for Selection
Baumer, Christoph. History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 203–204. ISBN 978-1-83860-868-2.

References

Buddhistic cloister of Ajina-Tepa - UNESCO World Heritage Centre Accessed 2009-3-3.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] World Heritage Center: The Criteria for Selection

[CB203-2] Baumer, Christoph. History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 203–204. ISBN 978-1-83860-868-2.