Potala of the West: Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art

By Pastor Shin Tan and Tsem Rinpoche At one of the highest points on the eastern seaboard, rural fieldstone buildings that resemble a Tibetan mountain monastery sit atop Lighthouse Hill. Founded in 1945, this “Jewel on a Hillside” is home to one of America’s most extensive collections of Himalayan artefacts and was “the only museum devoted solely to Tibetan art in the world” when it was founded. Jacques Marchais’ love of collecting Himalayan artefacts culminated in the building of an institution that served as a bridge for the west to discover the exotic art and culture of Tibet through this little piece of Shangri-la, inspired by a photograph of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, the historic seat of the Dalai Lamas. The two main flat-roofed Himalayan-style buildings with trapezoidal-shaped windows, cross cut wood posts and slate caps above doorways house the library and the museum. Meditation cells, or small meditation rooms were also built a level below the main buildings. Historically known as The Jacques Marchais Center of Tibetan Art, what is now referred to as The Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art sat on a three-acre piece of land at its peak. Unfortunately, ancillary parts of the property were […]