Buddhist Art of Tibet. In Milarepa’s Footsteps

The Tibet Museum collection in the medieval city of Gruyeres, Switzerland, offers a rare opportunity to discover Tibetan Buddhist art—an endangered world heritage—through some six hundred works. Founded in 2009 by Alain Bordier—an ardent collector who is fascinated by Buddhist art and Asian spirituality—the museum presents his unique selection of religious objects from the Himalayas (Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and India), which he has acquired and assembled over more than forty years. In addition to providing artistic context, this volume also reveals the symbolism and spirituality associated with each work. Detailed analysis of a previously unpublished illuminated manuscript, which retraces the life of the great eleventhcentury Tibetan yogi Milarepa, provides an excellent introduction to the major Buddhist principles. Through insightful texts and striking art from the Alain Bordier Collection, this book provides an exceptional panorama of Tibetan art, history, and religious thought.