Alchi

by Roger Goepper

On the south bank of the Indus in Ladakh, facing a great trade and invasion route to the north, lies Alchi, a repository of magnificent Buddhist wall paintings and clay sculptures that have survived for over eight hundred years. This sumptuously illustrated book details the most impressive of the temples within the complex, the Sumtsek Three-Tiered Temple. The building itself is an impressive mixture of Tibetan and Kashmiri elements, which display some central Asian antecedents. The fresh and colorful wall paintings, in a sophisticated kashmiri style, appear to be a transposition of techniques intended for miniatures onto walls. The masterly vision of the creators of the Sumtsek has melded a profusion of teachings, artistic formats, structural possibilities and the demands of a donor's personal vision, into a unified sanctuary.