Secret Towers of the Himalayas in Show

2005/10/01

An exhibition of 47 photos showing ancient stone towers of Sichuan and Tibet was held in the French Cultural Centre in Beijing from September 19 to 30. This exhibition, sponsored by the author of 37 of the photos, Frederique Darragon, in cooperation with the French Cultural Centre and French Training Centre, was held to raise awareness of these extraordinary ancient sky-scrapers, gather funds for protecting the towers, their environment and the local customs, and to promote the towers nomination to the World Heritage List, as a Joint Serial Cultural and Natural Site, together with the “Four Pretty Girls” Mountains.

Over five years, Frederique Darragon, the Paris-based director of a foundation that builds schools in rural China, documented roughly 200 of the towers that dot the rugged landscape of southwestern China and Tibet for a TV documentary that aired on Discovery Channel in the fall of 2003. Darragon drew a blank when querying locals about the origins of the tall, multisided structures, known in parts of Tibet as bdud khang, or "demon houses." Darragon took it upon herself to get samples of wooden floor beams carbon dated. Most towers tested appear to be several hundred years old, with one erected as long as 1,200 years ago.

This event was also part of the French Year in China.



	Article featured in Beijing This Month, October 2005 Publication sponsored by Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Tourism