英国第一家佛教雕塑画廊正式对外开放（图）

佛教画廊展出的展品

据《evening standard》报道，2009年5月2日，由英国维多利亚博物馆和阿尔伯特博物馆联合创办的英国第一家佛教雕塑画廊正式对外开放。

据悉，雕塑画廊展出的佛教艺术收藏，一半以上的收藏是人们从未见过或因为缺乏场地而未被展出的。

引人注目的展品中包括一个三十多年未对外开放的、来自缅甸的稀有佛龛。据说它原是曼德勒皇宫的物品。还有世界上尚存的最精美佛像图之一的尼泊尔14世纪佛画Bodhisattva Padmapani以及来自于中国响堂山佛寺石佛的佛首。

所有的展品年代都在公元前200年到1850年之间。本次展品将以博物馆的风格展出，但在内部设有坐席以便参观者参观思考。

该画廊于5月2日开放，免费入场。(编译：子规）

THE first gallery in Britain dedicated to Buddhist sculpture opens in London this week at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

It will enable the V&A to show its world-class collection of such works. More than half have never been seen or have not been on show for decades because of a lack of space.

Highlights include a rare shrine from Burma not seen for 30 years. It is thought to have belonged to the royal palace in Mandalay. There is also the Bodhisattva Padmapani, one of the finest surviving 14th-century Nepalese Buddhist images in the world, and a stone head from a vast temple complex in Xiangtangshan in China. Pieces date from AD200 to 1850.

The works will be shown in a museum context, although there will be seating to allow visitors to view them meditatively.