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The sign in front of the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul is unequivocal: "A nation stays alive when its culture stays alive." Now, Americans will get to see how Afghan heroes kept their culture alive, along with the glittering artifacts they risked everything to save. Talk about shock and awe - Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures From the National Museum, Kabul is an art-and-artifacts exhibit aimed at reminding viewers that Afghanistan is not just a faraway land where U.S. troops are now fighting and dying. On display will be nearly 230 extraordinary artifacts unearthed in modern Afghanistan—on view for the first time in the United States—some thousands of years old, from Afghanistan's long and rich, multicultural history at the center of the network of trade routes known as the Silk Road. The most eye-popping objects of all: beautiful gold jewelry and other adornments from the famed Bactrian Hoard, a cache of some 20,000 gold objects uncovered by archaeologists 30 years ago but long feared lost in the conflict and chaos. This exhibit will be on view at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum - one of only four stops in the US.
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