Designing Tibet
Rummaging through the bins of a second-hand store in Makati, I came upon a volume with a curious title: ” Imagining Tibet.” That’s when it struck me that, indeed, the Land at the Roof of the World is a place that exists not only on this planet but in our minds. The 1957 book by Peter Goullart, “Forgotten Kingdom,” and the more recent “Searching for Shangri-La,” by Laurence Brahm (published in 2003), are additional examples which show how this entire region has been mythologized by writers from the West. The lovely paintings by the Russian mystic Nicholas Roerich of lonely citadels set in an expanse of mist shrouded peaks also helped to further enhance European fascination.Forgotten Kingdom,