Exhibition 'Buddhist Art'

About exhibition

The 'Buddhist Art' exhibition is formed from the collections of Buddhist thangka icons and ritual items of the National Museum of the Republic of Kalmykia named after N. N. Palmov. The hall consists of three sections: 'Buddhas', 'Bodhisattvas', and 'Objects of Buddhist Cult'. The 'Buddhas' section is represented by thangkas depicting Shakyamuni Buddha, Buddhist hierarchs, and figures of the Buddhist pantheon, dated to the 18th–19th centuries. The 'Bodhisattvas' section comprises antique icons portraying deities close to the state of Buddhahood: Avalokiteshvara, the White and Green Tara, and Vajrapani. The main exhibit of this section is the thangka 'Maitreya'. The third section is devoted to monuments of the Buddhist cult: collections of conch shells (dung), sacred vessels, and ritual musical instruments — important symbols in Buddhism. The showcases display a collection of sculptural works representing the principal iconographic types of the pantheon. Amulets — Mirde-Burkhan — are widely represented; they were indispensable attributes of every Kalmyk in the past.