Inside the Tashilhunpo temple

Inside the Tashilhunpo temple

The Tashilhunpo Monastery is one of the Six Big Monasteries of Gelugpa (or the buddhist Yellow Hat Sect) in Tibet. When we stepped in the yard of the building we're amazed about the huge extent of the complex, a floorspace of 300,000 square meters.
It was the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas before the Chinese invasion and was constructed in 1447. The Panchen Lamas resided and conducted their religious and secular duties.
Although two-thirds of the buildings were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, they were mainly the residences for the 4,000 monks and the monastery itself was not as extensively damaged as most other monasteries in Tibet, for it was the seat of the Panchen Lama who remained in Chinese-controlled territory.
But then in 1966:
Chinese Red Guards led a crowd to break statues, burn scriptures and open the stupas containing the relics of the 5th to 9th Panchen Lamas, and throw all them in the Nyangqu Po, the river which is streaming through the city.

My picture is taken in May 2004 with a NIKON CoolPix 5000.