National Museum of Afghanistan, National museum in Kabul, Afghanistan
The National Museum of Afghanistan is a two-story building on Kabul's southern edge that houses archaeological finds and historical objects spanning different eras. The rooms contain items from over 50,000 years of human history in the region.
The museum was founded in 1919 and officially opened in 1922 to preserve Afghanistan's rich past. During the civil war in the 1990s, the institution lost roughly 70 percent of its collections.
The collection reflects Afghanistan's position on ancient trade routes, with Buddhist sculptures displayed alongside Persian manuscripts and Islamic metalwork. You can see how different cultures influenced each other across centuries.
The museum is open daily except Friday from 8 AM to 4 PM and offers tours in English and Dari. It's helpful to check current conditions beforehand, as the situation may change.
After the war, international organizations helped bring back more than 8,000 stolen objects since 2007. Among them are limestone sculptures that were even repatriated from Germany.
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