<p>Born at St. Petersburg in 1874, Nicholas Roerich was a precocious polymath, excelling at painting, poetry, archaeology, anthropology and botany.&nbsp;&nbsp; In adulthood, Roerich began a life-long fascination with eastern mysticism, founding (with his wife Helena) his own school of &lsquo;Agni Yoga&rsquo; in 1920, and embarking, six year&rsquo;s later on an epic five-year expedition through Chinese Turkestan, Altai, Mongolia and Tibet, to study the religions and culture of the region and to search for the fabled city of Shambhala.</p><p>Hidden between towering, snow-covered peaks, Shambhala is said to be earth&rsquo;s central chakra, a point of balance between this world and the invisible realms, a place where adepts and ascended masters watch over the evolution of humanity and chart its future course.&nbsp; By the end of his expedition, having faced countless dangers and privations, Roerich was certain that he had found clear proof of Shambhala&rsquo;s existence.&nbsp; As he himself said &ldquo;We know the greatness of Shambhala. We know the reality of this indescribable realm on earth... Shambhala is connected with the heavenly one. &nbsp;And in this link, the two worlds are unified.'</p>