By Paul Michaud
Paris, March 8 - French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, recently sent on a diplomatic mission to Afghanistan by Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, has revealed the existence of a third Buddha statue at Bamiyan, which was the site, a year ago, of the destruction by Taliban of two 1500-year-old giant Buddhas.

He also announced that the Musee Guimet, which is presently hosting a major exhibition on "1000 years of Afghan Art," will shortly send an archaeological mission to Afghanistan to locate the statue and eventually undertake its restoration. Part of the exhibition at Musee Guimet is devoted to the history of the two giant statues whose destruction, as relayed by video-cameras, was witnessed by much of the world in March of last year.

The third Buddha statue, says Mr. Levy, "is just as tall and as old as the two destroyed statues, but has been buried for at least three or four centuries because it is of a reclining Buddha." He noted that French authorities became aware of its existence when they started researching the origins of the two destroyed Buddhas, and came upon a manuscript account of a visit to Bamiyan undertaken by Chinese travellers "several centuries ago."

According to the account of the Chinese pilgrims to Kabul, a third statue also existed whose precise location is given in the document. The Taliban, says Mr Levy, "were obviously unaware of the existence of a third Buddha nearby, otherwise they would have certainly destroyed it too."

As for its restoration by France, he noted that according to a long-standing arrangement with Afghanistan, French specialists, and notably those at the Musee Guimet, are regularly asked by Afghan authorities to undertake the restoration of many of the country’s archaeological treasures.