Tibetan Art

Students at a school in Lhasa are learning the medieval Tibetan art of "thangka" -- minutely detailed paintings depicting Buddhist deities or symbols, usually on cotton canvas or silk scrolls which are now increasingly being embraced by outsiders. Thangkas were traditionally offered to monasteries or sold to Tibetan families but traditional cultures are more and more recognized in China. In their heyday centuries ago thangkas had patrons and practitioners in Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet and northern India, and in 2009, UNESCO added them to its list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, calling them "an integral part of the artistic life of people" on the Tibetan plateau. Each painting requires between one month to three years of work, depending on its size and complexity.