Himalayan Art Resources

Tibet: Gyantse Town, Architecture (SRG Archive)

Gyantse Town, Architecture | Gyantse Town Main Page | SRG Archive: Gyantse Town (all images)

The town of Gyantse has two overwhelmingly beautiful locations of interest. The first and most striking is the Dzong (fortress) on top of a steep craggy hill at the center of the town. The Dzong has numerous rooms filled with murals of all types. The oldest of the murals are likely to be the many mandala paintings in the Mandala Room at the top of the Dzong.

The second location is the monastic complex with numerous buildings. The most architecturally noteworthy is the Kumbum, a stupa shaped temple with scores of small outer chapels. To the right side of the Kumbum is the Main Temple with several floors and many rooms filled with murals and spectacular sculpture of all sizes. (These photos were taken in the summer of 2007).

Jeff Watt 2-2012