Tabo

A fresh look at a unique masterpiece of Indo-Tibetan art.

Over one thousand years old, the Buddhist monastery complex of Tabo and its exquisitely preserved works of art rank among the most fascinating cultural and historical treasures of mankind. The new edition of this richly illustrated volume shows the beauty of these legendary sanctuaries for the first time in the highest digital resolution and describes in detail the entire gamut of Western Tibetan artistic styles.

The monastery of Tabo, located in the northern Indian Himalayan region and founded in 996 AD, is the oldest temple complex in the Tibetan cultural area that has been preserved in its original state. Tabo’s main temple, the Temple of the Enlightened Gods, is a unique work of art: one-thousand-year-old sculptures and paintings, created in an incomparably fine style by Indian and Western Tibetan artists, together form a walk-in, horizontal mandala. With special permission, Peter van Ham was able to spend decades photographing the temple halls, which are otherwise off-limits to cameras. Most recently, he was able to capture them in the world’s highest digital resolution. With four hundred images—150 of them new to this edition—the book provides detailed background information and the latest research findings on the spectacular yet endangered sanctuary.