The Temples of Lhasa: Tibetan Buddhist Architecture from the 7th to the 21st Centuries. By Andre Alexander

Abstract

This handsome volume, published on glossy paper with numerous images, maps and architectural drawings, is the most complete study ever done of the architecture of Tibetan temples in the city of Lhasa, before 1959 the capital of Tibet, and today the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China. The book documents the work of the Tibet Heritage Fund (THF, originally called the “Lhasa Archive Project”), a non-profit organization that worked in Lhasa from 1991 until 2000. The THF, founded by André Alexander, had as its original mission to preserve important historic buildings in Lhasa, and the present book is the first volume of what is envisioned as a multi-volume series of “conservation inventories,” much of which served as preparatory research for actual preservation projects undertaken by the THF. Having been denied permission to continue its work in Lhasa, the THF today works in architectural preservation in other parts of China.