The Tibet Museum (

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

: བོད་ལྗྗོངས་རྟེན་རྫས་བཤམས་མཛོད་ཁང་ ) is the official museum of the

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...

. Inaugurated on October 5, 1999, it is the first large, modern museum in the Tibet Autonomous Region. It has a collection of more than 520,000 artifacts, including pottery, jade, and Buddha statues, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. It has a collection of around 1,000 artifacts permanently on display related to the cultural history of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

, from examples of Tibetan art to architectural design throughout history such as Tibetan doors and beams. In order to fill the museum the Tibet aristocracy and religious establishment had their property confiscated by the Chinese Government (Harris 2013:67).

Exterior

The museum is a multimillion-dollar project. It is located in an L-shaped building situated directly below the

Potala Palace The Potala Palace is a ''dzong'' fortress in Lhasa, Tibet. It was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959, has been a museum since then, and a World Heritage Site since 1994. The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythica ...

on the corner of Norbulingkha Road. The modern museum building fuses together traditional Tibetan architecture with the modern. It is a grey brick building with dark brown and white roof furnishings with a golden orange gilded roof. The museum is structured into three main sections: a main exhibition hall, a folk cultural garden and an administrative quarter. The central courtyard to the museum is uniquely designed, with a white, sleek-looking floor, and draws upon traditional monastic conventions. It features an origin, black and white design in the centre and has lighting through large skylight windows above. The museum covers an area of 53,959 square meters, with a total construction area of 23,508 square meters.

Interior

The area for the exhibition department covers 10,451 square meters. The History of Tibetan Culture Exhibition is divided into pre-history culture, indivisible history, culture and arts, and people's customs, exploring several thousand years of Tibetan history, politics, religion, cultural arts, and customs.

Prehistory

This section features items ranging in age from 50,000 to 3000 years old. Many of the items such as stone tools, pottery, bone objects and metal objects were unearthed at the Karuo and Qugong sites and are representative of the Neolithic culture of the Tibetan Plateau and the origins of the Tibetan people. There is also a room showing the variety of flora found in Tibet as well as several geological samples.

Political History

This section of the museum focuses on the different dynastic periods of Tibetan history. The museum has many seals, books, official documents and gifts from Emperors, offering an insight into the political exchanges between the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

officials and the Tibetan leaders and the relationship between the Chinese central government and the Tibetan regional . Tourists can see the original copy of the 17-point agreement signed in 1951 marking China’s annexation of Tibet, take an audio tour and see the Golden Urn that China used to select a disputed

Panchen Lama The Panchen Lama () is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas, he ...

Cultural Arts

This section is divided into 8 main areas exploring

Tibetan culture Tibet developed a distinct culture due to its geographic and climatic conditions. While influenced by neighboring cultures from China, India, and Nepal, the Himalayan region's remoteness and inaccessibility have preserved distinct local i ...

. These include Tibetan-script books, documents and scrolls, the arts of Tibetan theatre, Tibetan musical instruments, Tibetan medicine, Tibetan astronomy and calendar reckoning (including charts), Tibetan sculpture, and

thangka A ''thangka'', variously spelled as ''thangka'', ''tangka'', ''thanka'', or ''tanka'' (; Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་; Nepal Bhasa: पौभा), is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, ...

painting and arts. The exhibited artefacts are protected by the Tibetan Autonomous Region Cultural Relics Protection Organization on account of the uniqueness and cultural value of some of the items. There are numerous statues of

buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...

s, and figures, masks, rare

sutra ''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aph ...

s written on pattra leaves and birch bars, and manuscripts written with gold, silver and coral powder. There are many items of Tibetan handicrafts, and invaluable jewellery such as gold, silver and jade items.

People's Culture, Ethnography

This section is divided into six main areas, including explorations into the Tibetan people's costumes and style of dress, everyday tools and utensils, arts and handicrafts, and ways of communication. The museum displays provide an important insight into the domestic practices of the Tibetan people, as well as the influence of Han culture on the Tibetans.

References

Harris, Clare (2013). 'The Potala Palace: Remembering to Forget in Contemporary Tibet'. In: Contemporary Tibet, South Asian Studies, 29:1, 61-75.

External links

Gallery
-Himalayan Art {{Authority control Museums in Tibet Tibetan culture Buildings and structures in Lhasa Museums established in 1999 Ethnographic museums in Asia Tourist attractions in Tibet 1999 establishments in Tibet Culture of Lhasa National first-grade museums of China