Rubin Museum Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room

Since its debut in 2013, the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room has been one of the Rubin Museum’s most popular installations, providing an immersive experience inspired by a traditional shrine. Now the Shrine Room travels to Brooklyn where it is on view for six years in the Brooklyn Museum’s Arts of Asia galleries as part of a multiyear collaboration.

The Rubin Museum Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room presents more than 100 artworks and ritual objects as they would be displayed in an elaborate Tibetan Buddhist household shrine—a space used for devotional prayer, offerings, and rituals. Scroll paintings (thangkas), sculptures, ritual implements, and musical instruments dating from the twelfth to twenty-first century are arranged on traditional Tibetan furniture according to their use in Tibetan Buddhist practices. Chanted prayers by monks and nuns, flickering butter lamps, and the subtle smell of incense reflect the cultural practices and remind visitors that Buddhist rituals engage all of the senses. The design incorporates elements of Tibetan architecture and the color schemes of traditional Tibetan homes, offering visitors the opportunity to experience Tibetan religious art in its cultural context.