The temples in the Tibetan and Mongolian world contain lots of textiles that add to the rooms' character. The material can be woven or sometimes felted, embroidered or constructed with appliqué. The altar can be decorated with beautiful cloths and hangings, pillars clad in rugs.
On the walls and pillars hang paintings, thanka, furnished with brocade frames. The monks, in their yellow or red everyday dress, sit on cushions or mats, the abbot on his throne. From the roof, soar cylindrically arranged textiles of colourful brocade representing the victory banner, one of the eight auspicious symbols. On the pillars, a temple-hanging of the type seen here can also be mounted.
Early in his career, Sven Hedin came into contact with the northern, Tibetan Buddhism, with which he obviously sympathised. During his last large expedition of 1927-35, he had several colleagues who were able to devote themselves to studying and documenting Buddhism's material culture. A shared project was to obtain two or three copies of the temple, fully furnish them, and display them for a Western audience. This led to an extensive collection of Buddhist artefacts.