Tibet Museum

The Tibet Museum, established in 1998 and formally inaugurated by the Dalai Lama in 2000, is in the CTA (Central Tibetan Administration) complex adjacent to the Namgyal Monastery. Its permanent exhibition — "I am Tibetan, this is my story" — covers Tibetan identity, the 1959 uprising, and the subsequent exile in ten sections. The collection of over 30,000 photographs, artefacts, and documents is the most comprehensive publicly accessible record of Tibetan culture and the exile experience outside Tibet itself.

The museum is small but dense with content. Allow at least an hour; the photographic sections documenting the Chinese takeover and the flight across the Himalayas are particularly affecting. Entry is free or by small donation. The CTA complex, which also houses the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, can be explored on the same visit.

things to do museum
A story
The Tibet Museum's photographic archive includes images taken by Tibetans fleeing across the Himalayas in 1959 and the years immediately following — some of the only visual documentation of the exodus as it happened. The collection of over 30,000 photographs is one of the most extensive records of a modern refugee crisis from the perspective of those who lived it.