On a willow-covered island in a sacred pond behind Tibet’s Potala Palace is a pagoda-roofed temple that was built in the eighteenth century. Unknown artists created a series of mysterious paintings on the walls of the temple’s private chapel, and these masterpieces of Tibetan art are reproduced in this extraordinary publication.

The chapel was reserved exclusively for the Dalai Lamas as a place of meditation and spiritual retreat, and for centuries the murals guided them in mystical contemplation.

At the heart of the book are 150 color photographs of the murals and their temple by Thomas Laird. Ian Baker’s text places these remarkable works within their historical and cultural perspective and is augmented by accounts from other Tibetan sources. A special feature of the book is an introduction and quotations by Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.