Legacy programme · 2006–2014
Culture and development.
A Programme for Culture and Development
From rebuilding institutions to rebuilding relationships.
CIE began working in Afghanistan in 2006. The documented programme phase centred on the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul and the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace and garden in Kholm, bringing conservation, museum development, education, craft training and public participation into one framework.
Capacity building and Afghan ownership were the programme’s guiding principles. Physical rehabilitation mattered, but so did the ability of Afghan professionals, craftspeople, teachers, young people and communities to decide how heritage would be cared for, interpreted and shared.
The programme was developed with the Ministry of Information and Culture, the Ministry of Education, the National Museum of Afghanistan, New AFIR Architects and other Afghan and international partners, with support from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Two connected places
A national museum and a community palace
Each site addressed a different scale of cultural life, while sharing the same commitment to access, professional capacity and local responsibility.
National Museum of Afghanistan
The programme supported structural and security improvements, collection care, exhibitions, museum management and public awareness. School and university visits helped reconnect younger generations with Afghanistan’s diverse histories.
Explore the museum project ↗Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace
The damaged nineteenth-century palace and garden were reimagined as Afghanistan’s first regional ethnographic museum, a learning site and a renewed public meeting place rooted in local memory.
Explore the palace project ↗People made the programme
Museum staff, architects, curators, teachers, guards, gardeners, carpenters, masons and apprentices carried the work. Their experiences are central to the programme publications.
Meet the voices in the publications ↗Programme approach
Six routes towards a sustainable museum sector
The 2010 programme publication described a step-by-step model that joined physical rehabilitation to organisational and public development.
Structure and security
Safer buildings, storage, access and security-management training.
Conservation and access
Inventory, recovery, conservation and better access to dispersed or damaged collections.
Exhibitions
Temporary and permanent exhibitions presenting Afghanistan’s plural and connected histories.
Management and finance
Professional structures, staff development, planning and accountable financial systems.
Income and activity
Publications, museum shops, travelling exhibitions and other routes towards institutional resilience.
Heritage awareness
Education, school visits, events and media that make museum knowledge part of everyday public life.
Programme publications
Three ways of recording the work
A practical programme overview, a portrait book centred on Afghan voices and a later reflective study preserve different layers of the programme.
Afghanistan: A Programme for Culture and Development
The National Museum rehabilitation and the renovation of the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace and garden.
Open publication ↗
Another Afghan Story
Fourteen Afghans and one Dutch participant reflect on cultural heritage, work, identity and the country’s future. Photographs by Dilip Banerjee and contributors.
Open portrait book ↗
A Changing World
Robert Parthesius and Umayya Abu-Hanna reflect on unity, diversity, ownership and heritage practice across global, national and local scales.
View publication page ↗Programme journey
From rehabilitation to public interpretation
Long-term relationships allowed practical work, learning and public storytelling to develop together.
Programme begins
CIE joins Afghan partners in a multi-year collaboration focused on museum rehabilitation, cultural development and professional capacity.
Kholm community project
Work begins to revive the Bagh-e Jehan Nama Palace and garden through local consultation, design and craft knowledge.
Programme stories published
The programme overview and Another Afghan Story document the sites, methods and people carrying the work.
Buddhist Heritage exhibition
A National Museum exhibition opens a public route through Afghanistan’s plural past and supports museum learning.
1000 Cities of Bactria
New interpretation brings archaeological knowledge into a public museum setting and connects Afghanistan to wider historical routes.
Community exhibition and reflection
Children’s education and community photography in Kholm culminate in a public exhibition, while A Changing World records lessons from the programme.
Events and public moments
The programme in public
These linked entries are preserved in CIE’s dated event archive alongside the annual reports that document them.
Heritage for Teachers Day
Teachers in Kholm explored ways to connect local heritage, the palace and school learning.
Open event record ↗Buddhist Heritage of Afghanistan
A National Museum exhibition made religious and artistic diversity visible to a broad public.
Open event record ↗1000 Cities of Bactria
An exhibition connected archaeological research with public interpretation at the National Museum.
Open event record ↗Kholm community photography
Photographs and local stories were brought together in an exhibition around Bagh-e Jehan Nama.
Open event record ↗Living programme connections
Where the legacy continues
The earlier programme now sits within CIE’s wider archive while its methods and questions continue across current clusters.
Dhakira Centre
Plural histories, re-emerging pasts and the right of communities to shape public memory.
Explore Dhakira Centre ↗Heritage EduHub
Turning project experience, museum practice and public dialogue into accessible learning resources.
Explore Heritage EduHub ↗HeritageLab
Preserving project processes, community voices and connected records for future use.
Explore HeritageLab ↗