Department of History of Art and Archaeology
David L. Snellgrove Senior Lecturer in Tibetan and Buddhist Art
School of Arts
Department Recruitment, Admissions and Marketing Convenor
Member, Tibetan Studies Group
Centre of Buddhist Studies
Committee Member
Southeast Asian Art Academic Programme
Research and Publications Sub-board Member
Christian Luczanits studied Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, University of Vienna, Austria, with a focus on art historical subjects.
There he completed his PhD under the external supervision of the late Maurizio Taddei, Istituto Universitario Orientale, Napoli. Following his PhD he held research positions at the University of Vienna until 2000, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, 2000 to 2003, and the Lumbini International Research Institute, 2005/06. Christian Luczanits also held visiting professorships at UC Berkeley in 2004/05, at Free University in Berlin 2006–08, and at Stanford University and UC Berkeley in the first half of 2010.
While teaching in Berlin Christian Luczanits also curated the exhibition "Gandhara – the Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan. Legends, Monasteries and Paradise" at the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Bonn together with Michael Jansen and was responsible for its catalogue. Before joining SOAS he has been Senior Curator at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York.
Christian Luczanits’ primary research areas are early Buddhist art during and after the Kushana period (1st to 5th centuries) and early Tibetan Buddhist art (7th to 15th centuries) within its wider context.
Specific research topics are the representations of the Bodhisattva and future Buddha Maitreya and their relationship to the development of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the development of Indian esoteric religious forms in general, the processes of adoption and adaptation of these forms in the formulation of a distinctively Tibetan Buddhism, and the competing public faces of Buddhism in Tibet.
Recent research has centred around an AHRC-funded project on “Tibetan Buddhist Monastery Collections Today”, in particular the documentation and assessment of monastery collections in Mustang, Nepal, and Ladakh, India.
The Development of Political Economy and Social Formation of the Marginal Polities on the Salween River Basin, Northwestern Thailand During the first millennium CE to the mid-second millennium CE
The Pantheon of the Emperor: Exploring the Translation and Adaptation of Tibetan Buddhist Iconographic Pantheons in Three Hundred Deities, Eulogies to the Sacred Images of the Buddhas, and Fanhualou
Tibetan Art and Architecture in Context. PIATS 2006: Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Eleventh Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Königswinter 2006
Lo Bue, Erberto F., (eds.) and Luczanits, Christian, (eds.) (2010). Halle (Saale): International Institute for Tibetan Studies. (Beiträge zur Zentralasienforschung, 20)
Luczanits, Christian and Tythacott, Louise (2024). In: Luczanits, Christian, (eds.) and Tythacott, Louise, (eds.), Tibetan Buddhist Monastery Collections and Museums: Traditional Practices and Contemporary Issues. Kathmandu: Vajra Academic, pp 27-87
Luczanits, Christian and Tythacott, Louise (2024). In: Luczanits, Christian, (eds.) and Tythacott, Louise, (eds.), Tibetan Buddhist Monastery Collections and Museums: Traditional Practices and Contemporary Issues. Kathmandu: Vajra Academic, pp 13-25
Mandalas Intertwined: Why Minor Goddesses in the Tabo Main Temple Matter
Luczanits, Christian (2023). In: Eltschinger, Vincent, (eds.), Kramer, Jowita, (eds.), Patil, Parimal, (eds.) and Yoshimizu, Chizuko, (eds.), Burlesque of the Philosophers. Indian and Buddhist Studies in Memory of Helmut Krasser. Bochum, Freiburg: Projektverlag, pp 363-393
An Example of Court Patronage to Honor a Religious Master. Mandala of Manjuvajra of the Vajravali Set Commissioned in Memory of Lama Dampa Central Tibet, 1375–1380
Jackson, David and Luczanits, Christian (2023). In: Debreczeny, Karl, (eds.) and Pakhoutova, Elena, (eds.), Himalayan Art in 108 Objects. New York: Scala, pp 50
A Royal Teacher and an Artist. Portrait of Lowo Khenchen Sonam Lhundrub, Mustang, Nepal, first half of the 16th century
Kramer, Jowita and Luczanits, Christian (2023). In: Debreczeny, Karl, (eds.) and Pakhoutova, Elena, (eds.), Himalayan Art in 108 Objects. New York: Scala, pp 63
The Iconographic Program of a Mid-eleventh Century Monument. Goddess Dharmameghabhumi in the Tabo Main Temple, Tabo Monastery, Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, India, ca. 1040
Luczanits, Christian (2023). In: Debreczeny, Karl, (eds.) and Pakhoutova, Elena, (eds.), Himalayan Art in 108 Objects. New York: Scala, pp 21
A Vajradhātu Mandala in a Prajñāpāramitā Manuscript of Tabo Monastery
Allinger, Eva and Luczanits, Christian (2021). In: Jahoda, Christian, (eds.) and Kalantari, Christiane, (eds.), Early West Tibetan Buddhist Monuments: Architecture, Art,History and Texts. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A Case of Old Menri (sman ris rnying pa) in Mustang?
Luczanits, Christian (2021). In: Caumanns, Volker, (eds.), Heimbel, Jörg, (eds.), Kano, Kazuo, (eds.) and Schiller, Alexander, (eds.), Gateways to Tibetan Studies: A Collection of Essays in Honour of David P. Jackson on the Occasion of his 70th Birthday. Hamburg: Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies, Universität Hamburg, pp 643-657
Luczanits, Christian (2019). In: Clemente, Michela, (eds.), Nalesini, Oscar, (eds.) and Venturi, Federica, (eds.), Perspectives on Tibetan Culture: A Small Garland of Forget-me-nots Offered to Elena De Rossi Filibeck. Kathmandu: Vajra Books, pp 203-226
Unveiling a Unique Ningma Pantheon: the Art of Gönpa Gang
Luczanits, Christian (2018). In: Harrison, John, (eds.), Luczanits, Christian, (eds.), Ramble, Charles, (eds.) and Drandul, Nyima, (eds.), A Blessing for the Land: The Architecture Art and History of a Buddhist Convent in Mustang Nepal. Kathmandu: Vajra Books, pp 54-99
The secrets of 14th century wall painting in the Western Himalayas: Structural damage sheds light onto the painting technique in the Tsuglag-khang in Kanji in Ladakh
Skedzuhn, Alexandra, Oeter, Martina, Bläuer, Christine and Luczanits, Christian (2018). In: Feiglstorfer, Hubert, (ed.), Earth Construction and Tradition, Vol. 2. Vienna: IVA–ICRA Institute for Comparative Research in Architecture, pp 205-222
Luczanits, Christian (2016). In: Krist, Gabriela, (ed.), Nako: Research and Conservation in the Western Himalayas. Wien; Köln; Weimar: Böhlau, pp 19-45
Luczanits, Christian (2016). In: Pal, Pratapaditya, (ed.), Puja and Piety: Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist Art from the Indian Subcontinent. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art and University of California Press, pp 116-137
Luczanits, Christian (2015). In: Bergmann, Annegret, (eds.), Hertel, Shao-Lan, (eds.), Noth, Juliane, (eds.), Papist-Matsuo, Antje, (eds.) and Schrape, Wibke, (eds.), Elegante Zusammenkunft im Gelehrtengarten. Studien zur Ostasiatischen Kunst zu Ehren von Jeong-hee Lee-Kalisch / Elegant Gathering in a Scholar’s Garden: Studies in East Asian Art in Honor of Jeong-hee Lee-Kalisch. Waimar: VDG, pp 56-62
From Kashmir to Western Tibet: The Many Faces of a Regional Style
Luczanits, Christian (2014). In: Linrothe, Robert N., (ed.), Collecting Paradise. Buddhist Art of Kashmir and Its Legacies. New York and Evanston: Rubin Museum of Art and Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, pp 108-149
Luczanits, Christian (2014). In: van Alphen, Jan, (ed.), The All-Knowing Buddha: A Secret Guide. New York and Antwerp: Rubin Museum of Art and BAI, MAS Books, pp 12-23, 163–166
The diffusion of Gandharan and Indian models in South Asia
Luczanits, Christian (2014). In: Leriche, Pierre, (ed.), Art et civilisation de l’orient hellénisé : Rencontres et échanges culturels d’Alexandre aux Sassanides. Paris: Editions A et J Picard, pp 245-250
Luczanits, Christian (2014). In: Jackson, David Paul, (ed.), Painting Traditions of the Drigung Kagyu School. New York: Rubin Museum of Art, pp 214-259
Conservation and research in Buddhist art from an art-historical perspective
Luczanits, Christian (2013). In: Park, David, (eds.), Wangmo, Kuenga, (eds.) and Cather, Sharon, (eds.), Art of Merit: Studies in Buddhist Art and its Conservation. Proceedings of the Buddhist Art Forum 2012. London: Archetype, pp 187-202
The Buddha Beyond. Figuration in Gandharan Cult Imagery
Luczanits, Christian (2013). In: Ehrhard, Franz-Karl, (eds.) and Maurer, Petra, (eds.), Nepalica-Tibetica. Festgabe für Christoph Cüppers. Andiast: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, pp 1-21
Harrison, Paul and Luczanits, Christian (2012). 2011 nendo dai ikkai kokusai shinpojiumu puroshīdingusu: Jōdokyō ni kansuru tokubetsu kokusai shinpojiumu. Kyoto: Ryukoku University Research Center for Buddhist Cultures in Asia, pp 69-127, plates 197–207
On the Iconography of Tibetan Scroll Paintings (thang ka) Dedicated to the Five Tathāgatas
Luczanits, Christian (2011). In: Lo Bue, Erberto F., (ed.), Art in Tibet. Issues in Traditional Tibetan Art from the Seventh to the Twentieth Century. Leiden: Brill, pp 37-51 + pls. 6
Approaches to Historic Indian and Indo-Tibetan Sculpture
Luczanits, Christian (2011). In: Pandya Dhar, Parul, (ed.), Indian Art History: Changing Perspectives. New Delhi: DK Printworld and National Museum Institute, pp 153-167 + figs 11.1–11.4
Siddhas, Hierarchs, and Lineages: Three Examples for Dating Tibetan Art
Luczanits, Christian (2011). In: Jackson, David Paul, (ed.), Mirror of the Buddha, Early Portraits from Tibet. New York: Rubin Museum of Art, pp 170-203, 214
The Development of the Alchi Temple Complex. An Interdisciplinary Approach
Luczanits, Christian and Neuwirth, Holger (2010). In: Krist, Gabriela, (eds.) and Bayerová, Tatjana, (eds.), Heritage Conservation and Research in India. 60 years of Indo-Austrian collaboration. Wien, Weimar: Böhlau, pp 79-84
Prior to Birth. The Tuṣita episodes in Indian Buddhist literature and art
Luczanits, Christian (2010). In: Cüppers, Christoph, (eds.), Deeg, Max, (eds.) and Durt, Hubert, (eds.), The Birth of the Buddha. Proceedings of the Seminar Held in Lumbini, Nepal, October 2004. Lumbini: Lumbini International Research Institute, pp 41-91
Mandalas of Mandalas: The Iconography of a Stupa of Many Auspicious Doors for Phag mo gru pa
Luczanits, Christian (2010). In: Lo Bue, Erberto F., (eds.) and Luczanits, Christian, (eds.), Tibetan Art and Architecture in Context. PIATS 2006: Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Eleventh Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Königswinter 2006. Halle (Saale): International Institute for Tibetan Studies, pp 281-310
In Search of the Perfection of Wisdom. A short note on the third narrative depicted in the Tabo Main Temple
Luczanits, Christian (2010). In: Franco, Eli, (eds.) and Zin, Monika, (eds.), From Turfan to Ajanta: Festschrift for Dieter Schlingloff on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday. Lumbini, Nepal: Lumbini International Research Institute, pp 567-578
Ritual, Instruction and Experiment: Esoteric Drawings from Dunhuang
Luczanits, Christian (2009). In: Pande, Anupa, (eds.) and Sharma, Mandira, (eds.), The Art of Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent in Cross Culture Perspective. New Delhi: National Museum Institute-Aryan Books International
Luczanits, Christian (2009). In: Xie, Jisheng, (eds.), Luo, Wenhua, (eds.) and Jing, Anning, (eds.), Han Zang Fo jiao mei shu yan jiu : 2007 sic di san jie Xizang kao gu yu yi shu guo ji xue shu tao lun hui lun wen ji - Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium of Tibetan Art and Archaeology, Oct. 2006, Beijing. Beijing: Guji, pp 133-150
Luczanits, Christian (2008). In: Bryant, Darrol, (eds.) and Bryant, Susan, (eds.), Mahayana Buddhism. History and Culture. New Delhi: Tibet House, pp 111-136
Luczanits, Christian (2008). Gandhara – The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan. Legends, Monasteries and Paradise. Mainz – Bonn: Zabern – Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der BRD, pp 318-320
Luczanits, Christian (2008). Gandhara – The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan. Legends, Monasteries and Paradise. Mainz – Bonn: Zabern – Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der BRD, pp 72-77
Luczanits, Christian (2008). Gandhara – The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan. Legends, Monasteries and Paradise. Mainz – Bonn: Zabern – Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der BRD, pp 16-26
The depiction of Hindu and Pan-Indian Deities in the Lo tsa ba lHa khang at Nako
Luczanits, Christian (2008). In: Raven, Ellen M., (ed.), South Asian Archaeology 1999. Proceedings of the Fifteenth Conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, held at the Universiteit Leiden, 5–9 July 1999. Groningen: Egbert Forsten, pp 493-506
Luczanits, Christian (2008). Gandhara – The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan. Legends, Monasteries and Paradise. Mainz – Bonn: Zabern – Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der BRD, pp 314-317
Luczanits, Christian (2008). Gandhara – The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan. Legends, Monasteries and Paradise. Mainz – Bonn: Zabern – Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der BRD, pp 249-253
Prior to Birth II. The Tuṣita episodes in early Tibetan Buddhist literature and art
Luczanits, Christian (2007). In: Kellner, Birgit, (eds.), Krasser, Helmut, (eds.), Lasic, Horst, (eds.), Much, M.T., (eds.) and Tauscher, Helmut, (eds.), Pramāṇakīrtiḥ. Papers dedicated to Ernst Steinkellner on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Wien: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität Wien, pp 497-543
Alchi and the Drigungpa School of Tibetan Buddhism: the Teacher Depiction in the Small Chörten at Alchi
Luczanits, Christian (2006). In: Lee-Kalisch, Jeong-hee, (eds.), Papist-Matsuo, Antje, (eds.) and Veit, Willibald, (eds.), Mei shou wan nian - Long Life Without End. Festschrift in Honor of Roger Goepper. Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang, pp 181-196
Luczanits, Christian (2006). In: Xie, Jisheng, (ed.), Studies in Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Art. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Tibetan Archaeology and Art, Beijing, September 3–6, 2004. Beijing: China Tibetology Publishing House, pp 459-488
Unendliche Vielfalt. Gestalt und Erscheinungsform im Buddhismus
Luczanits, Christian (2005). In: Köpke, Wulf, (eds.) and Schmelz, Bernd, (eds.), Die Welt des Tibetischen Buddhismus. Hamburg: Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg, pp 43-77
Luczanits, Christian (2003). In: Kreide-Damani, Ingrid, (ed.), Dating Tibetan Art. Essays on the Possibilities and Impossibilities of Chronology from the Lempertz Symposium, Cologne. Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert Verlag, pp 25-57
Luczanits, Christian (2002). In: Klimburg-Salter, Deborah E., (eds.) and Allinger, Eva, (eds.), Buddhist Art and Tibetan Patronage Ninth to Fourteenth Centuries. Leiden: Brill, pp 115-125
Ein Blick nach Osten, zur rezenten Erforschung früher tibetischer Kunst
Luczanits, Christian (1999). In: Schütz, Karl, (ed.), 10. Österreichischer Kunsthistorikertag. Das Fach Kunstgeschichte und keine Grenzen? 30. September – 3. Oktober 1999, Universität Innsbruck. Wien: Österreichischer Kunsthistorikerverband, pp 59-64
Minor Inscriptions and Captions in the Tabo gTsug lag khaṅ
Luczanits, Christian (1999). In: Petech, Luciano, (eds.) and Luczanits, Christian, (eds.), Inscriptions from the Tabo Main Temple. Texts and Translations. Rome: IsIAO, pp 95-187 + 9 plates
The Renovation Inscription of the Tabo Gtsug Lag Khaṅ. New Edition and Translation
Steinkellner, Ernst and Luczanits, Christian (1999). In: Petech, Luciano, (eds.) and Luczanits, Christian, (eds.), Inscriptions From the Tabo Main Temple. Texts and Translations. Rome: IsIAO, pp 9-28
A New Translation of the Renovation Inscription in the Tabo Main Temple (gtsug-lag-khang)
Steinkellner, Ernst and Luczanits, Christian (1998). In: Klimburg-Salter, Deborah E., (ed.), Tabo – a Lamp for the Kingdom. Early Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Art in the Western Himalaya. Milan – New York: Skira – Thames and Hudson, pp 257-259
Luczanits, Christian (1998). In: Klimburg-Salter, Deborah E., (eds.) and Allinger, Eva, (eds.), The Inner Asian International Style 12th-14th Centuries. Papers presented at a panel of the 7th seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Graz 1995. Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, pp 151-169
Luczanits, Christian (1997). In: Klimburg-Salter, Deborah E., (ed.), Tabo – a Lamp for the Kingdom. Early Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Art in the Western Himalaya. Milan – New York: Skira – Thames and Hudson, pp 189-205
On the Construction of Clay Sculptures in Tabo (Ta pho) Spiti (c. 1042 A.D.)
Luczanits, Christian (1997). In: Allchin, Frank Raymond, (eds.) and Allchin, Bridget, (eds.), South Asian Archaeology, 1995. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists Cambridge, 5–9 July 1995. New Delhi – Calcutta: Science Publishers and Oxford and IBH Publishing Co., pp 691-701
Review: Siudmak, John. The Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Ancient Kashmir and its Influences. Vol. 28, Handbook of Oriental Studies: Section 2, South Asia. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2013.
Luczanits, Christian (2014). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (77) 3, pp 600-601
Review: Discoveries in Western Tibet and the Western Himalayas: Essays on History, Literature, Archaeology and Art. Piats 2003: Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, 2003. Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library, vol. 10/8 by Amy Heller and Giacomella Orofino
Luczanits, Christian (2009). Journal of the American Oriental Society (129) 3, pp 503-505
