KUNSONG DECHONG, a 25-year-old Tibetan, will see a dream fulfilled when a 1,000-year-old “Tripitaka” (Tibetan encyclopedia) her family has protected for decades moves into a new, government-built museum.

Dechong is a member of the ancient Dongtsang family in China’s Qinghai Province, whose ancestor was said to be one of the 30 generals of the legendary King Gesar. The “Tripitaka” kept by her family was recognized as the oldest and most complete version preserved by ordinary people.

The museum, a two-story Tibetan-style building, cost nearly 1 million yuan (US$150,000) and covers 456 square meters. Nestled on a hillside in Gyegu Township, Yushu Tibetan Prefecture, the south-facing building looks like a Tibetan monastery with its red walls.

The building is the first built by the government for an ordinary Tibetan collector. The government has additionally allocated more than 5 million yuan since 2003 for preservation of the books.

The volumes “are an exceptionally precious cultural heritage in our country,” said Gama Thugar, head of the Yushu Cultural Relics Bureau.

“The ‘Tripitaka’ is a religious treasure, so the museum was built to look like a monastery,” Dechong said. She said interior decoration was still being completed, and the museum would open to visitors after the entire collection was moved in. She said she didn’t know exactly when that would happen.

The “Tripitaka” comprises sutras, poems, art and scientific knowledge. The “Tripitaka” has more than 700 volumes made of cowhide, birch bark or black, blue or green traditional Tibetan paper with golden and silver powder, vermilion markings and ink. The bindings are carved or incised with traditional patterns and words of the Om Mani Padme Hum, the most common prayer in Tibetan Buddhism.