Short answers, pulled from the story.
The smaller Eastern Buddha was built around 570 CE and the larger Western Buddha dates to approximately 618 CE. These statues were commissioned by the Hephthalite Principalities of Tokharistan and northern Afghanistan during the era when the Hephthalites ruled the region.
The main bodies of the statues were hewn directly from sandstone cliffs while details were modeled using mud mixed with straw coated with stucco. Lower parts of the arms utilized a mud-straw mix supported by wooden armatures and experts believe upper face parts consisted of huge wooden masks.
Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang visited the site on the 30th of April 630 and described Bamyan as a flourishing center with more than ten monasteries housing over a thousand monks. His account notes both figures were decorated with gold and fine jewels and mentions a third reclining statue that no longer exists today.
Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar issued an order to destroy all statues in Afghanistan on the 26th of February 2001 and work began on the 3rd of March 2001. Anti-aircraft guns fired at the statues for days causing severe damage while men lowered down cliffs placed explosives into holes drilled in heads and anti-tank mines were placed at niche bottoms.
UNESCO Director-General Kōichirō Matsuura called the destruction a crime against culture and sent 36 letters objecting to proposed destruction. A meeting of ambassadors from 54 member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference joined protests to spare monuments while Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates condemned actions as savage despite recognizing the Taliban government.