Preserving Bhutan’s Thangka Paintings
The Druk Foundation for Art Preservation was established to assist the Bhutanese monk conservators in achieving sustainable development.
Working with The Buddhist Art & Cultural Conservation Centre, we are teaching Bhutan’s monks to be the conservators of the religious arts of Bhutan and the Himalayas.
Each generation of monk conservators will, in turn, teach the next generation of conservators in the preservation and restoration of thangkas, statues, murals and architectural heritage sites from the Kingdom of Bhutan.
Today, Bhutan’s monk conservators are bringing back the tradition of skilled thangka painting from the 16th and 17th centuries, when Bhutan was experiencing the height of its cultural and artistic renaissance.
“Who better to restore sacred religious art, but the monks themselves?”
