Dalai Lama launches online Tibet Album
02 Jun 08
His Holiness the Dalai Lama launched The Tibet Album: British photography in central Tibet 1920-1950 at a private ceremony at the Pitt Rivers Museum on 30 May.
The Tibet Album website features more than 6,000 photographs of Tibet taken between 1920 and 1950, spanning a crucial period in modern Tibetan history. Most of these historic photographs, from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum and British Museum, have not been published or made available to the public before. The images of people, buildings, landscapes, and ceremonies provide a unique record of places and lives now changed beyond all recognition.
The Tibet Album is the outcome of a research project created by the Pitt Rivers Museum and the British Museum with funding from the UK government’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project was under the direction of Dr Clare Harris, Reader in Visual Anthropology and Curator for Asia at the Pitt Rivers; Professor Elizabeth Edwards, former Curator of Photograph Collections and now Professor at the University of Arts; and Richard Blurton, Head of the South Asia section at the British Museum.
During his visit to Oxford, the Dalai Lama was invited to join midday prayers at Blackfriars, a permanent private hall at Oxford University. After prayers, he joined 80 invited guests for a discussion about contemplation in the Dominican and Carmelite traditions.
As Patron of So-Wide (the Society for the Wider Understanding of the Buddhist Tradition), the Dalai Lama was invited to give a talk and open a discussion at the Sheldonian Theatre. So-Wide is not part of Oxford University, but is a charity that works to develop the study of the Buddhist tradition and application of Buddhist practices for therapy and professional development. So-Wide has founded and supports the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, a Recognised Independent Centre of the University; and the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, which operates within the Medical Sciences Division.