Photo exhibition celebrating 100 years of Monarchy opens

June 3: A special photo exhibition celebrating 100 years of monarchy opened at the National Museum in Paro yesterday. The exhibition will continue till December 17 this year.

The exhibition is a pictorial account of the successive monarchs starting from Gongsar Ugyen Wangchuck, the first hereditary monarch of Bhutan, to His Majesty Jigme Khesar and their contributions to the kingdom and the people.

The exhibition was inaugurated by His Royal Highness Dasho Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck. Also present at the opening were parliamentarians and senior government officials.

The displays feature rare photographs that have never been seen before including a photo of Gongsar Ugyen wangchuck wearing the raven crown.

The photographs date from 1900 to 2007 and include the signing of the historic Genga in the Punakha Dzong on December 17 1907, the enthronement of the first hereditary monarch, royal family members, and personal photographs of the monarchs.

The Director of the National Museum Khenpo Phuntsok Tashi said the special exhibition is held as part of the centenary celebrations this year. He said it marks a century of peace and prosperity the people of Bhutan have enjoyed under the reign of the successive monarchs. He said the National Museum will now start preparing a photo catalogue of the collection.

We’re preparing photo catalogue on this collection so those who cannot visit here can visit our book. They can see our collection. The Royal Photographs are scattered all over the world and we tried to collect and put in our photo and audiovisual section. So those who are interested about Wangchuck dynasty they can do research and find out.

Khenpo Phuntshok Tashi said they have a collection of about 300 photographs of the monarchs. However only 105 could be displayed due to lack of space. The photo catalogue will be available in the market before the exhibition closes on December 17. He said it took them about two years to compile the photographs.

The photos were collected from Kuensel, British Archive museums and private Bhutanese individuals. Some of the pictures were contributed by Francesco Steward from USA whose parents were friends of His Late Majesty the third king.

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