Tokyo, Japan: Central Afghanistan has Buddhist images which are dated back to 650 AD are the world first oil paintings that go back 14 centuries. The team of Japanese, US and European scientist has been assigned to restore the damages caused to these murals. The discovery will change the opinion about the origin of the oil paintings as it is widely known that oil were first used in painting in 1400 to 1600 in Europe.
The team of scientists is assigned to restore the two gigantic statutes of Buddha which were destroyed by Taliban in the year 2001.
The murals portray thousands of Buddha’s with tied and knotted hair, sitting crossed wearing vermilion robes. The other motifs in these murals show men facing each other, crouching monkeys and some mythical creatures.
Taniguchi informed the AFP that the artists had used different types of oils with sophisticated techniques on the dirt walls. He added that he felt he was looking at a medieval painting dating from 14th – 15th century Italy.
