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Lhasa
Tibet History Museum
 The
Tibet Museum is located at the southeast
corner of the Norbulingka Road in Lhasa.
It is the first large-sized comprehensive
modern museum in the Tibet Autonomous Region;
it is a brilliant literary and arts palace
of the Tibetan people, a gem of Tibetan
civilization and a treasure house of Tibetan
cultural relics.
It was open to the public on
October 5,1999. The site of the museum covers
an area of 53,959 square meters, with a
total construction area of 23,508 square
meters. The area for exhibition department
covers 10,451 square meters, consisting
of three sections: a main exhibition hall,
a folk cultural garden and an administrative
quarter. The building is magnificent, and
combined Tibetan traditional architecture
with modern technology. Its characteristics
are unique. Together with its neighboring
Norbulingka Park, it has become one of the
most beautiful places in the ancient city
of Lhasa.
 Before
the Tibet Museum was built, numerous cultural
relics in the Autonomous Region were kept
in shabby storehouses of the departments
in charge of historical relics, others were
scattered among and kept by the common people.
Because of the limitations of exhibition,
those relics were seldom put on display
for the public, and there were fewer opportunities
to introduce them through publication. As
a matter of fact, the rich cultural connotations
of these historical relics were not utilized.
At the present, under the new conditions
of reform and opening up to the outside
world, to build in Tibet a large-scale museum
with rich content is to inherit and develop
our predecessors' career. It has become
a center for the broad masses of people
to understand the Tibetan history and culture.
It has also become a new place of interest
in Lhasa, the capital city of the Autonomous
Region.
the Tibet Museum has a rich
collection of cultural relics, including
various types of cultural relics of prehistoric
period, title-conferring documents issued
by the feudal dynasties of past ages, seals
of authority, gold albums, gifts granted
by emperors. There are also numerous statues
of buddhas, bodhisattvas, and figures. There
are also rare sutras written on pattra leaves
and birch bars, and manuscripts written
with gold powder, silver powder, and coral
powder. There are also various printed Sanskrit
and Tibetan scriptures and colorful tangkas
of various painting genres. Unique Tibetan
handicrafts, costumes, jewelry, gold ware,
silver ware and jade ware are also in the
collection. All these are of excellent quality
and are invaluable.
 The
aim of the Tibet Museum is to preserve cultural
relics of the best quality, to make acadmeic
study and to put them on display so that
the visitors may appreciate the Tibetan
historical civilization. The "Exhibition
of Tibetan History and Culture" is
a major part of the Museum, which includes
more than a thousand pieces of selected
objects, showing the long history and brilliant
culture of the Tibetan people.
The content of the book Tibet
Museum is an introduction to the cultural
relics preserved in the Museum. It is compiled
by the professionals of various departments
of the Museum. Its content covers various
aspects of Tibetan history and culture.
This pictorial album is a record of one
of the "Top Ten National Exhibitions
of Excellent Cultural Relics, 1999."
It is a display of the wisdom and gigantic
creativity of the Tibetan people.
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