Sentences with phrase «mountainside by monks»

It is now clear that Omar Khan Massoudi, director of Kabul» sNational Museum, and a few other Afghans risked their lives to protect the artifacts from the Taliban, who were intent on destroying images — and who, in 2001, succeeded in blowing up the famed Bamiyan Buddhas, towering stone sculptures carved into the mountainside by monks about 1,500 years ago.