Cultural crossroads

A family dream

Pritzker, 36, who received his PhD from the University of Oxford with a focus on the early textual history of Tibet, first came to the mountains of the Himalayas at just 4 years old. With his parents, he spent a large part of his childhood living in Nepal.

For him, this exhibition represents a long-held family dream that has finally come true.

The Pritzker family from Chicago is famed for its achievements in entrepreneurship and philanthropy. It funds the Pritzker Architecture Prize, one of the world's leading architecture awards.

David's parents Thomas and Margot Pritzker first came to the Himalayas in 1975 and soon became "addicted" to the place. Since then, the couple has made frequent treks through the mountain ranges there. They first visited the Tibet autonomous region in 1981.

"When we started, the (ancient) Greek and Roman cultures and Renaissance were really well understood in the West, and there was no new ground to be broken," Thomas Pritzker, 69, tells China Daily.

"But here we discovered a lot of new ground to cover," he says. "Tubo studies were in their infancy then, and we could do things that are really exciting."

Thomas Pritzker began to work with the National Cultural Heritage Administration and Sichuan University in 1996 and he later published a series of relevant academic papers following research in the west of Tibet. His son David also nurtured his passion for archaeology during that time.

"One step follows the other, and we've kept going," he smiles. "We're still 'amateurs', but it's good to see David turn into a real professional."