Shrine for the worship of Lake Nam and Mount Nyenchen Thanglha		John Vincent Bellezza		Tibet Looking Glass May 14 to 31, 2009

Scholar, explorer, writer, and pilgrim John Vincent Bellezza is widely recognized as the foremost specialist in the cultural history of Upper Tibet. He has lived in the high Himalaya for nearly a quarter of a century. A visiting scholar at the University of Virginia, Bellezza has written extensively on the nomads, history and culture of Upper Tibet. A pioneer in his field, he is credited with the discovery of hundreds of pre-Buddhist archaeological sites, describing the monuments and the people that built them in great detail. The Iron Age civilization he has charted is increasingly equated with Zhang Zhung, Tibet’s fabled ancient kingdom and source of much of her culture.

Elderly singers of the ancient shun ballads of western Tibet		Rare pictograph of early Bon religious practitioner