TIBETAN culture will soon be on display in Bendigo, as a museum showcasing life in the Himalayan nation opens at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion.
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It may even be the first museum of its kind in Australia.
Unique Tibet will open on Friday, showcasing the people, culture, art and customs of the Buddhist nation.
Objects on display give a picture of everything from daily life, to ritual, after being collected from Tibet and nations home to its dispersed peoples.
Curator Barb Rozmus said the museum's aim was to give a picture of life and culture in Tibet as it is today.
Ms Rozmus said revolved around Tibetan culture and its connection with Buddhism.
The museum's collection is grouped around seven key themes: way of life, work and play, devotion, spreading Dharma, which is Buddhist teaching, traditional science, such as astrology and medicine, festivals, and the Dalai Lama.
Curating the collection was a months-long labour for Ms Rozmus and fellow volunteers. Many of the objects donated by a single person, collected during extensive travel in Tibet, India and Nepal.
Ms Rozmus said items ranged from those used everyday, such as clothing, jewellery, crockery and cutlery, to ritual items, and unusual objects to do with Tibetan festivals.
She said it was surprising to find the number of traditional festivals - mainly to do with Buddhism - which took up 12 months of the calendar, at least one each month.
Ms Rozmus said a highlight was a display on the Dalai Lama, including quite unique items, such as a fruit bowl he was given on his reception in India after fleeing Tibet in 1959 because of the Chinese occupation.
It also features a telegram sent to welcome the Dalai Lama by then-Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Ms Rozmus said the museum showcased and celebrated Tibetan culture.
She said it hoped to give a broader-context around Buddhism to many of the sculptures and religious paintings around the Great Stupa.
"The exhibition is centred around people, customs, Buddhism and art, but it's all really interwoven, because one can't exist without the other in Tibet," she said.
"It's absolutely amazing how everything Tibetan ... the way they live their everyday lives, is actually involved in Buddhism."
Uniqe Tibet will be opened on Friday by the Dalai Lama's representative in Australia, Lhakpa Tshoko.
Many items in the museum were donated by patron of the Tibet Friendship Group, Joan Wilson, gathered while travelling in Tibet, Nepal and India.
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