windows with fluttering awnings prayer hall Tashilhunpo gompa Shigatse Tibet China
traditional archiecture of major religious buildings in Tibet. This is the view up the wall of the Tashilhunpo Gompa in Shigatse Tibet. This building is the Maitreya Temple, known as Jambu Chyenmu, on the west side. It is the tallest building of the monastery. It was erected in 1914 by the Ninth Panchen Lama to house a gigantic statue of the Maitreya Buddha and is metres in height. The statue sits on a splendid lotus throne in the 'European' posture with its hands in the symbolic teaching pose. A single finger of the giant figure is almost 4 feet in length. The statue contains 279 kg of gold and 150,000 kg of copper and brass moulded on a solid wooden frame by Tibetan and Nepalese craftsmen. Small versions of the Maitreya are positioned in all four corners of the chamber and the murals on either side of the door show a more active, antic style than any to be seen in Lhasa. Fortunately, 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. However, during 1966 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 them in the river. Some remains, though, were saved by locals and the 10th Panchen Lama in 1985 began the construction of a new stupa to house them and honour his predecessors. It was finally consecrated on 22 January 1989, just six days before he died, aged fifty-one, at Tashilhunpo.
Size: 2573px × 3934px
Location: Tashilhunpo gompa Shigatse Tibet People's Republic of China
Photo credit: © Adrian Weston / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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