Tabo, a Lamp for the Kingdom: Early Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Art

·期刊原文
Tabo, a Lamp for the Kingdom: Early Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Art in
the Western Himalaya
(Klimburg-Salter, Deborah (text) & Jaroslav Poncar (photogs))
Reviewed by David McClelland
Library Journal
Vol.123 No.9
May 15, 1998
pp.82-83

COPYRIGHT 1998 Reed Publishing USA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is not at all unusual for Western art historians to write
detailed treatments of single European or American religious
structures. We are all familiar with many fine books on Chartres
Cathedral or the great religious foundation at Assissi. Yet few of
these exacting, room-by-room, image-by image studies have been
published on Asian religious buildings. Klimburg Salter (Univ. of
Vienna) has taken upon herself the task of recording and explaining
the beautiful and extraordinarily well preserved sculptures and wall
paintings of the Buddhist monastery of Tabo, in the Indian Himalayas
in the isolated valley of Spiti, near the Tibetan border. Built in
996 and renovated in 1042, the monastery was a focal point for the
diffusion of Buddhism from its birthplace in India up through the
high passes to Tibet. Studded with Sanskrit terms, the text is dry
but readable and will be more appreciated by readers with some
knowledge of Buddhism Oust as European art history presupposes a
knowledge of Christianity). The glorious color photographs provide a
feeling for the vitality and quality of the art in this ancient
monastery. A narrative chapter of Himalayan history covers the last
1300 years, and evocative black-and-white photographs chart the
European expeditions of the early 20th century that first described
Tabo. This book is a privileged look at an esoteric and inaccessible
outpost of a religious practice steadily disappearing. Recommended
for art and academic libraries.