Broken Buddha's face

Hi, I would like to ask about broken face of larger Buddha statue. Why did the face broken? Who destroyed it? Because this face was destroy before Taliban's attack.

Dear Stefab, There is one theory that says the faces of the Giant Buddha statues probably were made out of wooden constructions in ancient times which has broken away in the course of time. Others argue that the faces originally were cut out of the cliff rock in the same way as the shape of the figures. Then they might have been cut off when Buddhist religion was driven out of the valley sometime around the 11th century.

Previously Georgios Toubekis wrote:

Dear Stefab,
> <br>There is one theory that says the faces of the Giant Buddha statues probably were made out of wooden constructions in ancient times which has broken away in the course of time. Others argue that the faces originally were cut out of the cliff rock in the same way as the shape of the figures. Then they might have been cut off when Buddhist religion was driven out of the valley sometime around the 11th century.
> <br>

Thanks a lot for the answer! You said that there is a several theories about destruction of Buddha'a face. Can you please tell me in which sources are these theories? I am from Czech Republic, I study science of religion and I would like to read more about it.

Previously Stefan Stokac wrote:

Previously Georgios Toubekis wrote:

Dear Stefab,
> <br>There is one theory that says the faces of the Giant Buddha statues probably were made out of wooden constructions in ancient times which has broken away in the course of time. Others argue that the faces originally were cut out of the cliff rock in the same way as the shape of the figures. Then they might have been cut off when Buddhist religion was driven out of the valley sometime around the 11th century.
> <br>

Thanks a lot for the answer! You said that there is a several theories about destruction of Buddha'a face. Can you please tell me in which sources are these theories? I am from Czech Republic, I study science of religion and I would like to read more about it.

You can have a look at JSTOR online bibliography service http://www.jstor.org/ just search for BAMIYAN and ICONOCLASM and you will find good sources for your study.