Over one thousand years old, the Buddhist monastery complex of Tabo and its exquisitely preserved works of art rank among the most fascinating cultural and historical treasures of mankind. The new edition of this richly illustrated volume shows the beauty of these legendary sanctuaries for the first time in the highest digital resolution and describes in detail the entire gamut of Western Tibetan artistic styles.
The monastery of Tabo, located in the northern Indian Himalayan region and founded in 996 AD, is the oldest temple complex in the Tibetan cultural area that has been preserved in its original state. Tabo's main temple, the Temple of the Enlightened Gods, is a unique work of art: one-thousand-year-old sculptures and paintings, created in an incomparably fine style by Indian and Western Tibetan artists, together form a walk-in, horizontal mandala. With special permission, Peter van Ham was able to spend decades photographing the temple halls, which are otherwise off-limits to cameras. Most recently, he was able to capture them in the world's highest digital resolution. With four hundred images-150 of them new to this edition-the book provides detailed background information and the latest research findings on the spectacular yet endangered sanctuary.
Tabo: Gods of Light, Peter van Ham, Hirmer Publishers, Hardcover (11" x 11"), 316 pages, $70.00
Peter van Ham's public life has been marked by numerous publications, lectures and exhibitions on his expeditions to regions, which till his research ventures had been some of the last remaining white spots on the world's maps.
Thus in the 90's of the twentieth century the Indo-Tibetan border regions - both in the Western Himalayas and in the Northeastern hill regions - became second home to Peter van Ham. There he was able to discover and document in depth art, cultures and traditions, which till date had been practically unknown to the Western world.
Eight internationally published books in various editions containing app. 2000 photographs, exhibitions and multivisional slide presentations in the entire German speaking Europe are the fruits borne from his efforts.
His undertakings have been supported by none less than His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the Archaeological Survey of India as well as the UNESCO and he has been state guest to various Asian countries.
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