Bamyan

Bamyan, also written Bamiyan or Bamian, is a city in central Afghanistan and the capital of Bamyan Province, lying within Bamyan District at an altitude of about 2,550 metres above sea level in the Hindu Kush highlands. It is the largest municipality in the Hazarajat region, with an estimated 103,909 residents on roughly 35 square kilometres of land, and its population is mostly Hazara. The city sits on an old trade route between the West, China and India and was a major Buddhist centre for centuries, its archaeology showing Greek, Turkic, Persian, Chinese and Indian influences. The colossal Buddhas carved into the cliffs north of the city, dated to the third to fifth centuries CE, were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, and the surrounding Bamiyan Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site listed as in danger. Bamyan was devastated by Genghis Khan's army in 1221 and recovered slowly, and it joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in 2017.