Asian Art Museum

About Asian Art Museum

The videos below can be seen on Smarthistory because The Asian Art Museum generously makes their videos available for distribution.

Varanasi
Each year, millions of pilgrims come here to worship Shiva and to bathe in the holy waters of the River Ganges.

Varanasi: sacred city

Hindu Temples Madurai and Meenakshi
Often covered with figural sculpture, these dwelling places of the gods draw worshipers to their inner sanctuaries.

Hindu temples

working jade
Cut, abrade, polish. With these three actions, Chinese artisans have been refining jade for 6000 years.

Working jade

Mandala of the bodhisattva Manjushri, Tibet, 1600-1800
How are statues consecrated? What role do mandalas play in meditation? Discover ritual objects of Tibetan Buddhism.

Sacred arts of Tibet

Seated Buddha
An inscription on the back of this sculpture identifies this as the earliest dated Buddha from China.

Seated Buddha

Hindu temples
Often covered with figural sculpture, these dwelling places of the gods draw worshipers to their inner sanctuaries.

Hindu temples

Chinese Buddhist cave shrines
Why were cave shrines created? Who were the patrons? What was their use? Discover these remarkable ancient sites.

Chinese Buddhist cave shrines

Working Jade
Jade is a stone that is too hard to carve—to work it, artisans slowly rub away stone with grit.

Working jade

Varanasi: sacred city
Each year, millions of pilgrims come here to worship Shiva and to bathe in the holy waters of the River Ganges.

Varanasi: sacred city