Mystical Tibet: Day 08 Shigatse - Tashilhumpo Monastary

Shigatse is the second largest town in Tibet. Its main attraction is the Tashilhumpo monastery, the seat of the Panchen Lama. The monastery dates from the mid-15th century. The rest of the town is quite modern and uninteresting.

The Tashilhumpo is immense, a monastic city with temples, assembly halls, living quarter and administrative offices. Today it housed around 700 monks. The main structure of the Tashilhumpo are :
1) The Maitreya Chapel - it houses a 26m high status of Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future (Champa in Tibetan). The fortress-style building that houses the Maitreya was built from 1914-18 by the Ninth Panchen Lama.
2) The Tomb of the Tenth Panchen Lama - the newest building here, it was completed in 1993. A gilded, jewel-encrusted stupa encloses the embalmed body of the Tenth Panchen Lama, who died in 1989.
3) The Tomb of the Fourth Panchen Lama - this tall, russet gold-roofed building houses a large silver stupa, enclosing the embalmed body of the Fourth Panchen Lama.
4) The Tomb of the Ninth Panchen Lama - It was completed in 1988 and was consecrated by the Tenth Panchen Lama only a week before his own death. During the cultual revolution the bodies of the Fifth through to the Ninth Panchen Lama were hidden and their identities were confused, so eventually all the remains were placed in a single tomb.

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1. Full view of the Tashilhunpo Monastery. The buildings that stand out from the rest are (from left to right) Maitreya Chapel, Tomb of the Tenth Panchen Lama, Tomb of the 4th Panchen Lama, Tomb of the 9th Panchen Lama and the Tanka-unfurling festival wall