Excerpted from my book "Nicholas & Helena Roerich, The Spiritual Journey of Two Great Artists and Peacemakers."
The Roerichs and their two sons escaped from Russia on the last train to leave St. Petersburg before the beginning of the Russian Revolution in 1917. They traveled throughout Europe and finally made it to New York City in 1920 -- the beginning of the Roaring Twenties. Within a short time, they gathered around them a small core group of workers who helped carry out all of their plans and visions including a 27-story skyscraper, which housed the Master Institute of United Arts. It was the first school to teach all of the arts under one roof. This innovative school attracted spiritual seekers and artists from across America including Franklin D. Roosevelt's mother Sarah Roosevelt, Henry A. Wallace, Marsden Hartley, Deems Taylor, and Rockwell Kent.
The couple dreamed of traveling throughout Central Asia so that Nicholas could paint all the mountain ranges of the East, especially the Himalayas. There was however, another plan to the trip for the couple had been directed to find the Panchen Lama and together create a Buddhist spiritual country around Siberia, Mongolia and the Gobi. From 1924 -- 28, the couple courageously crossed the remote and dangerous regions of India and Asia, Escaping bandits and revolutions, they searched for ancient relics and books hidden in crypt libraries and caves throughout the Gobi, for signs of Shambhala, the sacred Buddhist site, for Maitreya (the Coming Buddha), whose presence would signal the New Era of Peace and for the Panchen Lama. Six years after the effort failed, President F.D. Roosevelt and the Department of Agriculture funded a second expedition so they could continue their search.
