Buddhist art is a key heritage of mankind. It is a true combination of global culture and local interpretation, as the pieces of this exhibition show again and again. From the origins of Buddhist art, still influenced by Greek and Roman ancestry in the Gandhara region, Buddhist sculptures soon found their own ways in Asian countries. Its adaptation to local taste and local interpretation is the outer reflection of inner interpretations, many of them very local as well. It is not by pure chance, for instance, that Northern Asia has adapted Mahayana Buddhism, whereas South East Asia follows the Hinayana line. The collective societies of Northeastern Asia have never been in favour of the more individually oriented southern interpretations of Buddhist faith.

I wish all the visitors a nice viewing.