Celebrate Tibet: Opening of Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room: The Alice S. Kandell Collection
Join us in welcoming an extraordinary gift of Tibetan artworks, making Mia a destination for the study and appreciation of Tibetan art in the United States.
“Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room: The Alice S. Kandell Collection” includes more than two hundred gilt-bronze sculptures, paintings, silk hangings, and carpets that were created in Tibet between the 1300s and early 1900s. Buddhist ritual objects are displayed in the format of an elaborate private household shrine, a space used for offerings, devotional prayer, rituals, and peaceful contemplation. With its flickering candlelight, sonorous chanting, and the subtle smell of incense, the glittering room provides an immersive experience of Tibetan Buddhist traditions.
We invite you to experience this special installation of Tibetan devotional objects in a setting suffused with Buddhist ritual and practice.
The opening festival will feature a lecture by the Dalai Lama’s translator, Thupten Jinpa Langri, dance performances by the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota, a catered lunch, and a live sand mandala demonstration and ceremony by the Jangchub Choeling Nunnery.
10:00 a.m. Check in
10:30 a.m. Opening Remarks, Pillsbury Auditorium
11:00 a.m. Performance by student dancers from the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota and viewing the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room: The Alice S. Kandell Collection
12:00 p.m. Catered lunch, Reception Hall
1:30 p.m. Lecture by Thupten Jinpa Langri, PhD
2:45 p.m. Consecration of Sand Mandala by Jangchub Choeling Nunnery
3:15 p.m. Celebration concludes
About the Lecture: Sacred Spaces in Tibetan Buddhism
There are many kinds of Tibetan Buddhist shrines, from humble home altars to immense and elaborate temples. Join Tibetan Buddhist scholar Thupten Jinpa Langri, translator for H.H. the Dalai Lama, as he discusses Tibetan sacred spaces and their role and usage in Tibetan life, with special focus on the museum’s newly installed shrine from the collection of Alice S. Kandell.
About the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota
Founded in 1992, the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota (TAFM) is a social and cultural hub for the Tibetan community in the Twin Cities. Its headquarters are the Tibetan Community Cultural Center in St. Paul. TAFM strives to preserve Tibetan identity, culture, and tradition and spread peace and compassion through social services in and around the Twin Cities.