Old painted door from Tibet with dragon motif

In Tibet, doors are much more than just architecture. They are painted protective guards that decorate and bless the house, temple or monastery. They are often decorated with bright colors and symbols: Dragons for protective power, tigers for courage and strength, lotus blossoms for purity or endless knots for wisdom and luck.

This heavy door, which is probably over 70 years old, is adorned with a magnificent dragon against a red background. As a special feature, it is also decorated with "Gyantse" (Tib. རྒྱན་རྩེ་). Gyantse is a traditional Tibetan painting technique in which raised dots, lines or ornaments are applied to paintings, thangkas and furniture. A thick paste of chalk and glue is applied and painted or gilded. Gyantse gives works of art depth, shine and special preciousness.

In Tibet, dragons are not just a mythical phenomenon, they are part of Tibetan life and culture. They are counted among the four deities and are believed to possess the power of perfect communication and enlightenment and are able to see through slander and other forms of manipulation.

The highly decorative door is 145 cm high, 84 cm wide and 5 cm thick.