The Dalai Lama visits the Pitt Rivers Museum
On Friday 30th May 2008, His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited the Pitt Rivers Museum to officially launch an innovative website called The Tibet Album : British Photography in Central Tibet 1920 –1950. A private ceremony was attended by some 150 guests, including those who were closely involved in creating the website and descendants of the original photographers who had donated their photograph collections to the Museum.
His Holiness enjoyed a presentation about the website, given by Dr. Clare Harris, which included historic photographs of people and places in the Tibet that he had once known. He then formally launched the site with a speech thanking everyone involved with the project for their hard work and highlighting the value of preserving these photographs at a time of rapid change and globalization: “The cultural heritage of Tibet and of Tibetans, although it is an ancient cultural heritage, is still very relevant to today’s world. I describe Tibetan culture as a culture of peace, a culture of non-violence, a culture of compassion.”
The majority of the 6000 historical photographs featured on the site have
not been published or made available to the
public before. For Tibetans in Tibet and the diaspora, who have previously
lacked access to this kind of material, The Tibet Album is a valuable asset
for reconstructing and maintaining their own histories and identities.
“It was an honour and pleasure to welcome His Holiness to the Museum to launch this website. We hope that this website will be a valuable resource for researchers everywhere and particularly for Tibetans” said Dr Clare Harris, a curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum and one of the directors of the website project.
The Tibet Album is the primary outcome of ‘Tibet Visual History 1920-1950’, a research project created by the Pitt Rivers Museum and the British Museum. Dr Michael O'Hanlon, Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, said: ‘we recognise the enormous importance of these photographs in documenting and recording Tibet's history. The 'Tibet Album' is about making this resource available to all via the worldwide web, and we are extremely grateful to the Arts and Humanities Research Council for their support for this project'”
Go to the Tibet Album site.
