A Japanese research team has discovered part of a mural painting in the ruins of the colossal stone Buddha statues in Bamiyan, central Afghanistan, that were destroyed by the country's former Taliban rulers. The mural was found in a small cave carved into a cliff on the eastern side of the statues, according to team leader Kazuya Yamauchi, chief researcher of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties of Tokyo. The painting, made on the dome-shaped roof of the cave measuring 2. 5 meters across, appears to be of the torso of a Buddha:).

The Mural (Courtesy: UNESCO)Patches of a vivid blue pattern made with lapis lazuli are all that remain of the painting, which is thought to have originally been of several Buddha images radiating outward from the center of the roof. The cave is likely to have fallen in on itself, and as a result the overall shape of the painting is obscured by rocks that have accumulated inside.
Dye characteristics date the mural to the sixth or seventh century, the golden age of Buddhist culture at Bamiyan:).