One of THF's principal aims in Lhasa was to revive the disappearing traditional Tibetan building skills. With the help of our teachers, the last great old building masters of Lhasa, we organized a training program where over 300 young Tibetan men and women participated. Many are working in their field today. The training progam is now in its third generation, with graduates now themselves giving training in Qinghai and Sichuan and even Mongolia.
In Ladakh we assemble a team of craftsman and we have been training Ladakhis, as well as local and international students in different building crafts, architecture survey and documentation, and wall painting conservation.

In the past 25 years of THF conservation work, more than 700 people participated in our long training program, and many more in our middle and short term training programs.


Exchange Program
Exchange is part of our capacity-building program. In Mongolia, the training program included the setting up the traditional manufacturing of bricks and roof tiles by Chinese experts. In Sichuan and Qinghai, we introduced the central Tibetan arga roofing technique. In Ladakh the Indian NGO Sparc helped us to set up a savings group in Leh. THF’s team of Ladakhi artisans took part in the training program in Sikkim, where they trained the local team in traditional building conservation. The Ladakhi wall painting trainees participated in wall paintings conservation projects in Sikkim, together with a Sikkimese thangka painter who started his training with our team.