Now, that collection has entered the Mia, a logical place to share Tibetan culture. The Twin Cities region is home to more than 5,000 Tibetans, the second-largest community in the U.S., according to the Tibetan-American Foundation of Minnesota, which worked with the museum on the exhibit.

More than 200 objects dating from the 1300s to the early 1900s are the gift of New York collector Alice S. Kandell.

The Minneapolis Institute of Art will open a Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room, the third of its kind in the U.S. and the only one outside the East Coast, featuring over 240 Buddhist objects and a donation from collector Alice S.