SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport (USA) is holding an exhibition “Deities in Stone: Hindu Sculpture" till February next, containing sculptures of Hindu deities and other Hindu artifacts. This exhibition at F2 – North Connect Gallery on Terminal 3 contains granite, stone, sandstone, schist and gabbro stone sculptures of Hindu deities Brahma, Vishnu with Lakshmi and Sarasvati, Surya flanked by Pingala and Danda, Shiva as divine teacher, Durga killing the buffalo demon, Ganesha, Parvati, Tripurasundari, four of the seven Mother Goddesses, Chamunda, Garuda and Harihara. A collodion silver print of Kalyana Mandapa in Jalakanteshvara Temple is also reportedly exhibited. Applauding SFO Museum for exhibiting Hinduism focused artifacts, distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that art had a long and rich tradition in Hinduism and ancient Sanskrit literature talked about religious paintings of deities on wood or cloth. Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged major art museums of the world, including Musee du Louvre and Musee d'Orsay of Paris, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Los Angeles Getty Center, Uffizi Gallery of Florence (Italy), Art Institute of Chicago, Tate Modern of London, Prado Museum of Madrid, National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, etc., to frequently organize Hindu art focused exhibitions, thus sharing the rich Hindu art heritage with the rest of the world. The exhibited objects in “Deities in Stone: Hindu Sculpture" exhibition range from seventh- and eighth-century temple images carved from stone to elaborately rendered wooden sculptures made more than one thousand years later for use in religious processions. “All reflect the divine, here on earth and throughout the universe, in its many manifestations", a Museum announcement says. Created in 1980, SFO Museum with a tagline of “ever-changing and far-ranging” was the first cultural institution of its kind located in an international airport and claims to be the first museum in an airport to receive accreditation from American Association of Museums and features over 20 galleries throughout airport terminals. Over 40 million passengers reportedly use SFO airport annually, a department of the City and County of San Francisco and one of the world's 30 busiest airports, which calls itself “gateway to the Pacific". Blake Summers is Director and Chief Curator of SFO Museum, John L. Martin is Airport Director, Larry Mazzola is Airport Commission President, Naomi M. Kelly is City Administrator and Edwin M. Lee is San Francisco Mayor.
