Past Forward: A Civilized War

Check out Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet to see how aesthetically beautiful it once was to go to war. Forget ugly AK 47s, mines and missiles, and marvel at carved helmets, swords and saddle plates of iron, embellished with gold, silver, turquoise, coral and lapis lazuli. You can view complete armors for both men and horses, made of hundreds of small iron plates laced with leather, and helmets engraved with images of Buddha Shakyamuni, deities and mantras, and prayer wheels that men took to war. All these remained in constant use in Tibet right up to the 20th century, even when the rest of the world had moved onto more modern arms and ammunitions.

People usually associate Tibet with peace, compassion and the Dalai Lama, but Donald Laocca, curator at the Metropolitan, points out, “The seeming paradox of the existence of arms and armor from Tibet, however, is no paradox at all when seen in the context of Tibetan history, which included many extended periods of intense military activity from the seventh to the mid-20th century.”

In almost every country war and peace are intricately entwined and we seem to heed no lessons from the past. Walk through the galleries where the gleaming swords and spears bear silent witness to disappeared generations, and you realize that war can never be pretty. Be it with elegantly carved swords and muskets or with weapons of mass destruction, the end result is the same.