Common Buddhist Art of SCO Countries

The first-ever SCO Online Exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage was launched during the 19^th Summit of the heads of government of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which was hosted by India for the first time.

Key Points

• The SCO Online Exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage displayed the Buddhist art antiquities of the SCO members on a single platform.
• The exhibition has been developed and maintained by the National Museum, New Delhi, in association with the museums and institutions of SCO member countries.
• The online exhibition utilized technologies such as virtual space utilization, 3D scanning, innovative curation, webGL platform, narration methodology, etc.
• Indian Buddhist treasures from the Mathura and Gandhara, Nalanda, Sarnath Amaravati, and Pakistan’s Gandhara art objects from Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and other museums were displayed in the exhibition.
• More than 100 objects from the Moscow’s State Oriental Art Museum depicting Buddhist Buriyat Art of Russia were also displayed in the exhibition.
• Antiques from the Dunhuang Academy of China, Uzbekistan’s Termez, Karatepa, Fayaztepa heritage sites Tajikistan’s Ajina-Tepa were also presented.
• Tajikistan’s ‘Buddha in Nirvana’ from Ajina-Tepa was one of the major attractions from the country in the exhibition.

SCO Summit 2020

Recently, India virtually participated in the 20^th SCO council head of states summit which was chaired by the Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the summit, PM Modi highlighted that India will organize SCO Food Festival in the country next year. India will also translate 10 regional language literary works into Chinese and Russian. India has also put forward the proposal to set up a Special Working Group on Startups and Innovation along with a Sub-Group on Traditional Medicine within SCO.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

SCO is an international organization that aims at strengthening mutual trust, promoting effective cooperation of the member countries in the areas of trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, environmental protection, education, transport, energy, tourism, politics, etc. It was announced in the year 20001 and the SCO charter was signed in June 2002 at the St. Petersburg SCO Heads of State meeting and finally came into force in 2003.

India and Pakistan were granted full member status of SCO in the SCO Heads of State Council Summit 2017 held at Astana.