Image-based reconstruction of the Great Buddha of Bamiyan, Afghanistan

In the great valley of Bamiyan, north-west of Kabul, Afghanistan, two big standing Buddha statues were carved out of the sedimentary rock of the region around the second to fourth centuries AD. The larger statue was 53 meters high while the smaller Buddha measured 35 m. The two colossal statues were demolished on March 2001 by the Taleban, using mortars, dynamite, anti-aircraft weapons and rockets. After the destruction, a consortium was founded to rebuild the Great Buddha at original shape, size and place. Our group performed the required computer reconstruction, which serves as a basis for the physical reconstruction. The work has been done using three different types of imagery in parallel and in this paper we present our results of the 3D computer reconstruction of the statue.