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ix It’s often my search for hidden lands—beyul, as the Tibetans call them—that triggers my most beautiful and wild adventures. That’s why David Zurick’s quest in the Himalaya for what he calls sacred architectures interested me straightaway. Imagine a several years’ journey crisscrossing by all imaginable means the most mysterious places in the world. Indeed, as I am writing these lines, he is preparing to go back for the last picture, carrying his large-format camera, in order to capture somehow the magic that connects human beings to these mythical places. Although we have different backgrounds and approaches—David’s those of a scholar, mine those of a cabinetmaker/Boy Scout—we are both interested in the relationship between nature and humankind: How does nature mold humankind, its culture, its tradition and . . . how does humankind mold nature in order to survive? This is the most magical alchemy. Trying to understand it takes you to the heart of life itself. How many times, reaching one of these power places— me, the atheist—did I silently pray to the spirits I could feel around me? There is a Zen quality to this book I really like. The quality of David’s photographs has to do with his artistic eye, for sure, but it is an eye nourished by an intimate knowledge of the place. This book is born from the fascination of the author with this part of the world. Above all, it is a love story. Thanks to the choice of a large-format camera, each picture pulls you in. You hear the silence, feel the wind, the cold, the peace, and the magic . . . then you begin to understand why such places have drawn so many fine dreamers and adventurers for centuries. How can one resist such magic? No wonder I fell under the same spell when I first set foot there in the early seventies. I remember meeting a salt trader traveling with his yak caravan across Dolpo. He couldn’t figure me out. He asked me: “I keep meeting you here and there for months now. Why do you come here, to such a remote and inhospitable place, if it’s not for making money?” I answered that I was not a businessman. “I just come here because I like the place, I like its people, I like to roam, and . . .” He suddenly understood. “Ha! You’re a pilgrim!” Yes, that was the best explanation. It’s now David’s turn to take us along on his wide and long pilgrimage. Éric Valli Foreword ...

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