The Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art is located at:

338 Lighthouse Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10306-1217
Voice: 718-987-3500
Fax: 718-351-0402
Website: www.tibetanmuseum.com
E-mail: jcelli@si.rr.com

The Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art was founded in 1945 to foster interest, study, and research of Tibetan and Asian art and culture. The museum collects and preserves art, ethnographic objects, books and photographs, and interprets its collection through exhibits, education programs and publications. The Museum, a small complex of two fieldstone buildings was built between 1943 and 1947 by Staten Island resident, Mrs. Jacques Marchais. One building, designed to resemble a small Himalayan monastery, houses rotating and permanent exhibits. The other building houses the Museum’s gift shop, administrative offices and a small library. The Museum is surrounded by meditation gardens adorned with statues of Shakyamuni Buddha, Tibetan prayer flags, and a lotus and koi fish pond.

The collection consists of about 1,200 pieces of Tibetan Buddhist art from Tibet, Mongolia, and northern China, dating from the fifteenth to the early twentieth century. There are also artifacts from Nepal, India, Japan and Thailand. The majority of the objects were obtained by Jacques Marchais in the 1930s and 40s. The collection is especially rich in statues of buddhas, lamas, arhats, protector deities, and Thangka paintings, and excellent examples of 18th century Qianlong cloisonné. The collection also contains modern works of art and objects that represent contemporary Tibetan life and culture.