Pearl of the Snowlands: Tibetan Buddhist Printing from the Derge Parkhang

The Fowler Museum at UCLA presents and exhibit featuring Tibetan Buddhist art.

Founded in 1729 by the fortieth King of Derge, Tenba Tsering (1678–1739), the Derge Parkhang (also called the Derge Sutra Printing House) is one of the foremost cultural, religious and historical institutions in Tibet. Today the Parkhang prints books and images from a collection of more than three hundred thousand woodblocks, including its renowned edition of the Buddhist Kanjur and Tanjur (the teachings of the Buddha and the collected commentaries on his teachings, respectively). Pearl of the Snowlands features twenty-five woodblock prints from the Parkhang’s collection along with beautiful photographs by Patrick Dowdey and Clifton Meador of the elaborate Tibetan architecture of the printing house and its ancient hand-printing process.