History of the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art and the Collections

Abstract The Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, formerly named the Jacques Marchais Center of Tibetan Art and also known popularly as the Tibetan Museum, was built between 1943 and 1947 by Jacqueline Klauber, who called herself Jacques Marchais. The museum consists of two fieldstone buildings designed to resemble a small Himalayan monastery, situated in a quiet garden high on a hillside overlooking New York Bay in Staten Island, New York. The interior of one building that is used as the main exhibition area is a square room, two-stories high, that resembles the chanting hall of a Tibetan temple. There is a three-tiered stone altar across one end that is covered with statues, paintings, and ritual objects. Four pillars painted with Tibetan motifs support the flat roof, which has a cupola in the center. Eighteen small windows surround the top of the room on the three sides facing the altar. The other building, dominated by a large stone fireplace, was originally furnished like a baronial library but at this writing is used for office space and a museum gift shop.The property nestles into the side of the hill, and no sounds intrude from the street above. All the noise and bustle of New York seem far away. Statues of Shakyamuni Buddha sit peacefully in the garden, and colorful, printed Tibetan prayer flags flutter in the breeze, sending out their message of compassion for all sentient beings. The atmosphere is one of serenity and beauty. The Tibetan Museum is unique in displaying its art in a setting that contributes to the visitor’s understanding and enjoyment. When he saw the museum in 1991, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, said it felt like being in Tibet.