
The construction of the National Museum of Afghanistan aims to celebrate the richness of the country’s cultural heritage and the spirit of its people. The “Timeless Cube” design proposal by Matteo Cainer Architects awakens the nation’s cultural heritage through powerful symbolic references, where physical fragments and traces inform us of its past. This concept is well illustrated in the ‘negative spaces’ of the artist and sculptor Rachel Whiteread that highlight the memory of an object, rendering the invisible visible through a reversal of solid and void. More images and architects’ description after the break.
In a nation devastated by war, the wealth of its cultural background and the spirit of its peoples are embodied here. In spite of the years of conflict and turmoil, the underlying strengths of the country remain intact, embedded in the earth and rising from it. Here this ‘absent presence’ is found in the day-lit foyer, a tranquil and serene space filled with water and greenery. Entering the main hall, each visitor defines their own experience of the museum, ascending the monumental stairs from the foyer at its heart, aware of the depth of knowledge expressed in the deep recesses of its masonry walls.
