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The Brooklyn Museum is about to get a major dose of calm. Starting June 11, visitors can enter a Tibetan Buddhist shrine room with ritual horns, butter lamps and the hum of chanting monks, courtesy of a long-term loan from the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art.
This loan is part of a broader shift for the Rubin Museum, which, in early 2024, announced the closure of its New York City building in order to become a global “museum without walls.” The institution is now focusing on traveling exhibitions, long-term loans, institutional partnerships, digital programs and more. The institution officially closed its physical location on October 6, 2024, and this collaboration with the Brooklyn Museum exemplifies the kind of public engagement it plans to pursue going forward.
The Rubin Museum Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room, one of the institution’s most beloved installations, will be on view inside the Brooklyn Museum’s Arts of Asia galleries as part of a six-year collaboration between the two museums. Entry is included with general admission, which the museum offers on a pay-what-you-wish basis.
Designed to evoke a traditional household shrine's look, feel and spirit, the room features more than 100 objects used in Tibetan Buddhist practice. Visitors will find elaborately painted thangkas (scroll paintings), bronze sculptures of deities and ornately carved furniture from Tibet, Nepal and Mongolia, dating from the 12th to 20th centuries. Every few years, the selection will rotate to highlight different Tibetan religious traditions like Nyingma, Sakya and Gelug, offering fresh perspectives and spiritual nuance with each visit.
But this isn’t your typical gallery display. The installation is immersive in the best way—think soft lighting, flickering butter lamps (simulated, don’t worry), the scent of incense in the air and a soundscape of devotional chanting. It’s a meditative moment tucked within the bustle of Brooklyn, inviting visitors to pause, breathe and reflect.
“We are thrilled that our beloved Shrine Room will remain accessible to the public in New York in the coming years and are grateful to the Brooklyn Museum for embracing this unique presentation,” said Jorrit Britschgi, executive director of the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, in an official statement. “The Shrine Room will now exist in dialogue with Brooklyn’s fantastic Arts of Asia galleries and give visitors the opportunity to experience Tibetan religious art in its cultural context.”
The addition comes after a major renovation of the Brooklyn Museum’s Asian art collection, completed in phases between 2017 and 2023. The Shrine Room promises a more immersive and atmospheric way to encounter these historic works and a deeper connection to the spiritual traditions behind them.