Tibetan Buddhist Monastery Collections Today

The study of Tibetan art has made great progress in the last decades. Temples and monasteries as well as museum and private collections have become available in richly illustrated publications, and masterworks of Tibetan painting and metal sculpture housed in western museums and in Tibetan Buddhist institutions have become accessible as well. However, Tibetan Buddhist institutions have much more to offer for research than a selection of the most ancient and valuable pieces they own, as their collections are much broader and allow for research questions that cannot be asked on the basis of objects dispersed in museum and private collections. Examples for such questions are, the relationship of collections to place and school, the composition of sets of objects and their usage, the display and purpose of collections in the past and at present.
While western museum and private collections of Tibetan art have been researched on in numerous publications, the latest probably being the study of the Bordier Collection in Gruyere (Béguin, Gilles, ed. 2013. Art sacré du Tibet: Collection Alain Bordier. Paris: Findakly), so far no substantial research has been done on the collections of Tibetan monastic institutions. This project not only makes up for this, but also looks into the questions these collections face in the contemporary world, and thus directly participates in a dialogue that has prominently emerged in the region over the last decade.
This research project focuses on the collections of selected monasteries in Ladakh, India (such as Hemis Monastery and affiliated institutions and Matho), and Mustang, Nepal (such as Namgyal, Choede, Kag Choede, Tsarang, Lo Gekhar, Gheling, Jar Choede) and assesses them as both a rich depository to refine our knowledge of Tibetan art and as collections. The artworks themselves not only provide an extremely rich resource of new contextualised objects, many of them with inscriptions, but also for exploring new research questions pertaining to content, material, sets, usage, and display. The latter points intimately relate to the objects being part of historically formed and presently managed collections, which may or may not be representative of the respective branch of Tibetan Buddhism the institution pertains to.

The main impact of the project will be in the regions the research is being conducted. The institutions participating in the documentation will be provided with yearly updated inventories of their collections. All institutions will be engaged and assisted in questions of object management and display. The abbots and caretakers of these institutions will also gain wider awareness of the treasures they hold and their value in the broader context of South Asian and Tibetan art history. Both the inventories and the engagement with responsible personnel will lead to a more careful handling and thus further the preservation of this valuable heritage.
The recent earthquake in Nepal has demonstrated the value of the documentation done so far: Namgyal Monastery was hit during the reconstruction of the living quarters of the monks around the main temple. In the earthquake the temple building, housing the entire collection, has been damaged and is in danger of collapsing. The collections and books thus have been stored provisionally in the only functional building left (the sculptures) and in a room under construction (the books). Only the sculptures have been fully documented so far, and this year (2015) research will focus on its books.
Regionally, the project will create greater awareness about the holdings of a monastery and the needs of their preservation. Previously hidden away objects will again become accessible for the faithful and tourists alike. In the long term, the regions as a whole will benefit through the project. The publication and accessibility of valuable and unique objects will further pilgrimage and tourism to the regions under concern and the participating institutions.
In Nepal, the national institutions directly involved with the heritage of the regions were the project will take place, in particular the Department of Archaeology, Government of Nepal, and the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) of the National Trust for Nature Conservation, will directly benefit from the project, as they will receive copies of the documentation and the database, which also will be publicly accessible at the National Archives in Kathmandu. Here the project will also provide expertise on the objects not available at these institutions.
The workshop organized at SOAS in the second year of the project will highlight some project results and present them to the broader academic community in Britain. Publications in popular Asian art magazines, such as Orientations, will reach a broad international audience and create awareness of the project. Those involved with the market in Tibetan art benefit through the refinement of knowledge and the newly available comparative material.
Beyond the project period, a resulting internet publication of the objects and key information on them will protect the heritage of the project regions and benefit the wider public. It is further likely, that it will result in an exhibition on the art of one of the project regions or a specific institution, and thus reach new audiences.