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Art & manuscripts

See Himavanta take form.

Sacred geography became architecture, painted forest, manuscript landscape, sculpture, and map. Each object offers a moment when an imagined world became something people could see, hold, visit, or walk through.

Explore the mapsVisit Neak Pean
Detailed historic Japanese Buddhist world-map canvas with colored continents and mountain rings.
1710 · National Diet Library, Japan, 10.11501/2542466 Nansenbushū bankoku shōka no zu — digital detail National Diet Library, Japan, Nansenbushū bankoku shōka no zu (1710), DOI 10.11501/2542466. Public Domain Mark · view original record

The visual collection

Nine windows into the imagined world.

Travel from a fourteenth-century Japanese map to Angkorian sacred water, Thai manuscript painting, and temple sculpture.

Vertical Thai manuscript painting for the Vessantara Jātaka showing a lush forest setting.
nineteenth century · Walters Art Museum 35.265 Vessantara Jātaka: Himavanta Forest Walters Art Museum, Walters 35.265; public-domain image via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain · view original record
Stone-lined water basin and towers at Neak Pean in Angkor.
photograph 2018; monument late twelfth century · Jayataṭāka / Rājyaśrī complex Neak Pean, Angkor Photo by Christophe95, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0 · view original record
Red and gold Garuda sculpture on a building in Bangkok.
modern photograph · Bangkok public sculpture Garuda sculpture in Bangkok Photo by Random username 083794703875938 via Wikimedia Commons. CC0 1.0 · view original record
Green Nāga sculpture with extended serpent body at Wat Baan Den in Chiang Mai.
modern photograph · Wat Baan Den, Chiang Mai Nāga at Wat Baan Den Photo via Wikimedia Commons. CC0 1.0 · view original record
Thai painting of a bird-bodied Kinnari figure in a landscape.
nineteenth century · Walters Art Museum 2010.1232 Thai Kinnari painting Walters Art Museum, Walters 2010.1232; public-domain image via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain · view original record
Carved stone makara architectural sculpture from Candi Sewu.
eighth–ninth century object; modern image · Candi Sewu, Central Java Makara from Candi Sewu Rijksmuseum / Leiden University Libraries image via Wikimedia Commons. CC0 1.0 · view original record
Colorful circular Japanese Buddhist world map with mountains, rivers, and labeled regions.
1364 · Hōryūji, Nara Gotenjiku zu (Map of the Five Indias) Jūkai, Gotenjiku zu (1364), Hōryūji, Nara; via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain · view original record
Detailed historic Japanese Buddhist world-map canvas with colored continents and mountain rings.
1710 · National Diet Library, Japan, 10.11501/2542466 Nansenbushū bankoku shōka no zu — digital detail National Diet Library, Japan, Nansenbushū bankoku shōka no zu (1710), DOI 10.11501/2542466. Public Domain Mark · view original record
Tall detailed Japanese Buddhist map in muted reds, blues, greens, and black ink.
1828 · Kyoto University Library, Muroga Collection RB00022886 Tenjiku yochizu Tenjiku yochizu (1828), Kyoto University Library, Muroga Collection RB00022886. Kyoto University Library free-license terms · view original record

Look closer

Three stories told through objects