The Museum of the State Cultural Center of Turkmenistan received a US grant for the restoration of the Buddha's head found during the USSR. This was reported in the newspaper "Neutral Turkmenistan" on July 9.
At a solemn meeting on this occasion, US Ambassador to Turkmenistan Matthew Klimov said that as a result of the competitive selection, the project submitted by the State Museum for restoration work on the restoration of the Buddha sculpture was approved.
The director of the museum, Meretgeldy Charyev , first of all expressed gratitude to President Serdar Berdimuhamedov "for supporting the development of the museum business" and only then - words of gratitude were addressed to Matthew Klimov "for his great contribution to ensuring the protection of historical and cultural monuments of Turkmenistan."
The head of the Buddha of the era of the Parthian state was discovered in the ancient city of Merv. This artifact is part of the Buddha sculpture. In 1960-1978 of the last century, under the leadership of the Soviet archaeologist Mikhail Masson , work was carried out to study this monument.
This grant will be the 30th awarded under the US AFCP grant program.
The Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) is a grant program established by the State Department at the request of Congress that has supported more than 1,000 cultural preservation projects in more than 130 countries since 2001.
AFCP regularly allocates funds to Turkmenistan for the restoration of historical and cultural monuments. Since 2001, the fund has financed several dozen projects in the country totaling more than $1.8 million. Turkmenistan has received more grants for the preservation of cultural heritage than any other country.
In August last year, it became known that the United States would sponsor a project to preserve the 12th-century Khudainazar-ovliya mausoleum, which is located near the city of Bayramali. This was the 29th AFCP grant.
Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan