Old Tibet Photographs

This LostLight project is restoring and documenting photographs made in the 1930s and 1940s which depict a heretofore unseen side of Tibet. Some of the photographs originate from the photographic studio of a Nepalese trader who resided in Lhasa at the time. Other photographs, collected from disparate sources, are of religious celebrations and observances, portraits of leading lamas of the day from within the inner circle of the ruling gelug-pa sect, as well as other notable individuals, families, oracles, incarnations and lay officeholders of historical significance.