Farewell to Memories: Kabul’s Beloved Ariana Cinema Razed for Commercial Market

A historic landmark, Kabul’s Ariana Cinema has been demolished to make way for a commercial market, sparking concerns over the city’s cultural heritage.

Authorities in Kabul have begun demolishing the historic Ariana Cinema, a landmark cultural venue in the city’s downtown, as part of plans to replace it with a commercial market, sources stated. Bulldozers were seen dismantling large sections of the building after the operation started two days ago.

According to the report, the area around the cinema has been cordoned off by Taliban personnel. Videos circulating on social media show heavy machinery tearing down walls and debris piling up inside what was once one of Afghanistan’s most iconic movie theatres.

Ariana Cinema, long considered a symbol of Kabul’s cultural heritage and one of the oldest cinemas in the country, has no official comment from the Taliban regarding the current demolition.

This destruction follows a pattern: in recent years the Taliban has dismantled multiple cinema buildings across Afghanistan. In the Khairkhana district of Kabul, the historically significant Khairkhana Cinema was previously razed, with authorities announcing plans to build a mosque and a market on that site. Other cinemas in provinces such as Herat and Kandahar have similarly been closed or demolished under Taliban decrees.

Taliban cultural policies have broadly restricted artistic expression. Under current regulations, the showing and distribution of “live‑action” images is banned, effectively shutting down all formal cinema operations. The regime has also removed the Fine Arts faculty from the nation’s higher education curriculum, dealing another blow to artistic training and creative industries.

The elimination of Ariana Cinema, once a vibrant center of Afghanistan film culture, marks yet another erosion of the country’s artistic heritage, worrying filmmakers, artists, and civil society figures about the shrinking space for cultural expression under Taliban governance.

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