Buddhas of Bamiyan

The largest and one of the oldest mosques in Aleppo, Syria, is known as the Great Mosque. It is situated next to the entrance to Al-Madina Souq in the al-Jalloum neighborhood of the Ancient City of Aleppo, a World Heritage Site. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, is supposedly buried in the mosque; both of them are honored in Islam and Christianity.

The Buddhas of Bamiyan were formerly the highest Buddha monuments in existence. The tallest one, which was carved into a cliff in the sixth century, was over 170 feet. The Buddhas soon gained a reputation as a sacred place. The Chinese traveler Xuanzang claimed tens of thousands of monks congregated close to the statues in 629 A.D.

But over several weeks in 2001, the Taliban bombed the Buddhas, destroying them. The idolatrous sculptures in Afghanistan were destroyed as a result of Mullah Mohammed Omar, an Afghan spiritual leader, ordering their removal.

• Country: Afghanistan