PESHAWAR, July 20: More than 50 sculptures of Gandhara civilization, collected from various museums in Pakistan, will be put on display in different cities of Japan in October this year, according to official sources.

The Japan Broadcasting Corporation is holding a series of exhibitions “The Treasures of Pakistan: Gandhara” in four cities — Tokyo, Hiroshima, Niigata and Nagoya — in October. The sculptures’ display will continue for a year.

An official told Dawn on Saturday that the Department of Archaeology and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation had signed an agreement according to which over 50 sculptures of Gandhara civilization from the museums in Karachi, Peshawar, Taxila and Lahore would be transported to Japan very soon. The Peshawar Museum will contribute more than a dozen sculptures of different sizes for the exhibition.

The exhibitions of Gandhara and Indus civilizations’ sculptures have become a source of handsome income for the department. The money so earned is ploughed back into conserving the country’s heritage.

The sources said the government of Japan provided technical and financial assistance to the archaeology department for the conservation and preservation of Gandhara civilization in Pakistan.