This dataset comprises 4,957 high-resolution photographs from the Kahlen Collection, documenting the travels of German artist and Tibet researcher Wolf Kahlen across East and Central Asia between 1985 and 1994. The images capture the landscapes, monasteries, cultural practices, and daily life in Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia, India, and China—regions deeply connected to the 14th-century Tibetan scholar Thang-stong-rgyal-po, whose legacy inspired Kahlen’s journeys.

Photographed primarily by Wolf Kahlen himself, with contributions from Waldemar Czechowski and Marek Kalmus during the 1988 Thang-stong-rgyal-po expedition, the collection offers a rare visual archive of Buddhist cultural heritage, architectural sites, and remote communities.

The photographs are digitally preserved and accessible online through the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. They provide rich material for research and creative projects in fields such as cultural anthropology, digital humanities, AI-driven image analysis, and cross-cultural storytelling.