IDNO

P.96715.WIL

Description

Place

S Asia; Bhutan; Taktsang

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Williamson, Frederick

Collector / Expedition

Date

24 June 1933

Collection Name

Williamson Collection

Source

Williamson, Margaret

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Place: One of the most holy sites in Bhutan, the Guru Rinpoche is said to have flown here on the back of a tigress and then meditated in a cave, contained within the present structure, for three months. It suffered a devastating fire of unknown origin during the night of April 19, 1998. Speculation is that the fire was caused either by lightening or an overturned butter lamp. Old photographs and diaries were used to make the reconstruction as close to the original as possible, though there was little documentation of the wall paintings and other artwork housed inside.[Dawa Dem 16/9/2008]

The transcription of this album by Mark Turin and Sara Shneiderman was carried out with reference to Krystina Cech’s catalogue list alone. Alex Nadin has since revised their cataloguing by systematically matching their records to the images. Margaret Williamson’s handwritten captions for photographs have now been transcribed into the Inscription field, and Cech’s descriptions appear in the Description field. Correct entries for Place, Named Person and Other Nos. have also been entered by Alex Nadin. [Sudeshna Guha 29/10/2002]