Bamyan City
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Bamyan City is the capital of Bamyan Province and the biggest town in the Hazarajat region of Central Afghanistan. It is distinctive and famous for its ancient portion of the city, where the Buddhas of Bamyan stood for almost two millenia.
Bamyan city is situated at approximately 240 km northwest of Kabul and has a very rich ancient heritage. Situated on the ancient Silk Route the city remained a cross road between the East and the West when all the trade from and to China and the Far-East went through Bamyan City, which the Hunas made their capital in the 5th century. The cliff of Buddhas, the gigantic statues, the ruins of the Monk's caves, Shar e Gholghola Ruins of the Ancient City of Noise, its exquisit beauty and scenery make it the most visited place in Afghanistan.
The City is the cultural center of the Hazara ethnic group of Afghanistan who constitute around 19%–25% of Afghanistan's population (there has never been any official census in Afghanistan) and the city is home to about 100,000 people, about 25% of the population of the total province. Most people live down the Bamyan valley, at an altitude of about 2,800 meters (9,200 ft). The valley is cradled between parallel mountain ranges—the Hindu Kush and the Koh-i-Baba.
For decades Bamyan city has been the center of fighting between zealot Muslims Taliban forces and the anti-Taliban alliance mainly Hiz-i-Wahdat, preceded by the clashes between the warlords of the local militia.
Mountains cover ninety percent of the province, and the cold winter lasts for six months with temperatures of three to twenty degrees Celsius below zero. Transportation facilities are booming but are still sparse.
The main crops are wheat, barley, mushung and baquli, which are grown in the spring. When crops were affected by unusually harsh weather, the people usually led their livestock down to Ghazni and Maidan Provinces to exchange for food.
On the face of a mountain near the city, three colossal statues were carved 4000 feet apart. One of them towered 53 meters (175 ft) high, the world's tallest standing statue of Buddha. The ancient statue was carved during the Kushan period in the fifth century. The gemstones of the city were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, calling them 'Un-Islamic".
At one time, two thousand monks prayed in caves in the sandstone cliffs. The caves were also a big tourist attraction before the long series of wars in Afghanistan. Now the unheated, doorless caves shelter dozens of refugees who have nowhere to go.
Modern Bamyan city is a small town than a city with the bazaar at its center. The infrastructure, basic facilities of life (electricity, gas, water supply) are totally non-existent. According to Sister Cities International, Bamian has established a sister city relationship with Gering, Nebraska, USA.
