10 – NEW – On the Roof of the World: An Introduction to the Art and Architecture of Tibet and the Himalayas
On campus
Course 10 – Summer School on campus
Monday 23 – Friday 27 June 2025
Jordan Quill
£645
Course description
Encircled by a ring of snow mountains, the extreme high-altitude terrain of the Tibetan Plateau ensured the preservation of Buddhism and its arts while it disappeared in its birthplace of India. Despite this remoteness, Tibet and the Himalayas are home to artistic treasures directly informed by millennia of cross-cultural dialogue and artistic exchange.
We will embark on an immersive journey into visually stunning, materially rich, and spiritually meaningful religious and secular art and architecture from ‘the roof of the world’, spanning over a thousand years until the present day. This course will explore the political, cultural, and material history of this breathtaking region across space, media, and time, from the Tibetan Plateau to the Kathmandu Valley, to Bhutan and parts of modern-day India – Ladakh, Lahaul and Spiti, and Sikkim. This includes religious paintings and statues, jewellery inlayed with turquoise and coral, textiles, and dress – preserved in London collections which we will visit – as well as shrines, stupas, temples, and palaces.
Brief introductions to the Tibetan script(s) and religion(s) from the first class will encourage a fully immersive experience, supplemented by multi-media preparatory materials of readings, videos, music, and online resources.
This course offers a broad but meaningful introduction to trans-Himalayan culture to inspire further study, travel, and discovery. We will conclude with the institutions and sites now established in exile, particularly in Dharamshala, current home to HH The Dalai Lama in India. Here, against extreme repression at home, Tibetan art, language and culture are being carefully preserved today.
How to book
To book your chosen course(s) please use the book now button below and you will be taken to our booking system where you can book and pay (Visa / Mastercard / GooglePay / ApplePay).
At checkout, you will be prompted to login (if you have previously booked gallery tickets) or to register and create a new account.
(Please note: this ticketing login is not the same as your Short Courses VLE login if you have one).
Please note that in the EU new VAT rules for online courses are coming into effect. This means that from 1 January 2025 we will be required to charge EU participants their local VAT rate. VAT-inclusive prices for EU students will be displayed at check-out.
If you have any questions please email us at short.courses@courtauld.ac.uk
Lecturer's biography
Jordan Quill’s research focusses on artistic interactions between Tibet, India, and the Himalayas. After receiving his BA in Art History from The Courtauld, specialising in Persianate Central Asia, Byzantium, and northern India, he completed an MPhil in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies at the University of Oxford. There he researched Himalayan wall paintings, architecture, and textiles, and studied the Tibetan language. He has worked in a number of museums and galleries and is currently in the final year of his PhD at The Courtauld. Jordan has published and lectured on the arts of Tibet, the Himalayas, and India, and travelled extensively in the Himalayan and high-altitude Tibetan-speaking regions of India and Nepal. Here, he has developed his understanding of Tibetan arts, as well as his fluency in the Tibetan language. He has also established professional relationships with artists and cultural institutions working in exile in Dharamshala, India, where he has attended Buddhist teachings by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet.