The Jokhang, Tibetan Buddhism’s most sacred temple, stands broad and low in the heart of old Lhasa, the recipient of prayers of daily worshippers and once-in-a-lifetime pilgrims. These photographs are part of a project completed in 1994 that documented the kora, the sacred path of worship that circles the Jokhang, as it was then.

From earliest dawn to last light, Tibetans arrive to make the circumambulation of the Jokhang to earn religious merit. The kora is also a residential area and a market, the heart of Lhasa where Tibetans live, meet, socialize, shop. Houses and stores fill the spaces between the smaller temples, prayer poles and prayer wheels transforming the kora into an enclosed lane broken only by intersecting alleys. All day long there is constant movement: a clock-wise flowing stream of worshippers, shoppers and vendors, inhabitants.

The area around the Jokhang, however, has changed dramatically. When this project began, in the early 1990s, traditional Tibetan homes and buildings, among the oldest in Lhasa, were being razed and families being relocated to make way for new, often characterless stores and stalls not owned by Tibetans.  

The Kora Photographic Project was a means of documenting and preserving this heritage of Tibet. The photographs were made in the early morning, just as the sun peaked over the eastern mountains and rooftops. At this time of day, the kora was empty save for those walking its path for merit, leaving the presence of the buildings to speak for themselves. The images are continuous, so that each window, doorway and alley is documented in order. This was done for each side of the one kilometer of the kora’s length using a medium format camera.

Tibet - Kora