2011—Visits in Kabul and fourth international training seminar, Vienna

Sean McAllister spent a week in Kabul in January 2011 to configure a better internet connection for the Kabul Museum and to assist the curators with some database issues. In September, Deborah Klimburg-Salter and Michael Alram (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Coin Cabinet) visited the museum to discuss future goals of the cooperation.

From October to December 2011, six Kabul Museum curators (Nasrin Belali, Shazia Hamdrad, Ajmal Yaar, Farhad Sediqy, Mohammad Atiq Hamdard, and Mohammad Fahim Rahimi) participated in the fourth training seminar held in Vienna. The completed coursework at the University of Vienna, including attending Prof. Klimburg-Salter’s seminar “Arts of Afghanistan” accompanied by tutorials taught by graduate students Verena Ziegler and Natasha Kimmet. Separate sessions were conducted by Dr. Michael Alram in pre-Islamic numismatic history and by Dr. Treadwell in early Islamic numismatic history in Afghanistan. Two curators trained in use of the numismatic database system developed for the museum by Dr. Klaus Vondrovec (in the context of the Kabul Museum Project). Another two curators trained in object database management in the Western Himalaya Archive Vienna (WHAV). The curators further benefited from participation in the CHWH research group and use of the extensive facilities at the Department of Art History and related institutions. These scholarships were financed by The Barakat Trust.