Lhasa (CNS) -- Copies of the Bible and the biography of the Mother of God, both published in the Tibetan language during the early 1930s, have been discovered at a cathedral in Yanjing, Changdu Prefecture, in the Tibet Autonomous Region, a local official said in an interview with CNS on Thursday.
Both books were found at the only cathedral in Tibet and are believed to be the only surviving copies. The 1931 Bible was originally among a total of 45 copies, while the 1932 biography was reprinted 489 times.
The discovery was made by a team led by the Changdu Cultural Relics Bureau, said Xie Yang, from the Changdu Administration of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Procedures for ancient book protection and reprinting are underway.
The Yanjing Cathedral, built in 1855 by a French missionary, bears a combination of Han, Tibetan and Western style architecture. Most of the residents in the neighborhood are Catholics, and some even have European names.
