The Basic Styles of Tibetan Temples and Palaces
2 min readArchitecture Constructed on the Mountains
As known to all, Tibet is in the main located on the snow-capped mountains, thus the mountain-reclining architecture was created by borrowing the designs of traditional castles and palaces. This style of constructions is most impressive in that the temples and palaces climb the mountains, forming a remarkable landscape.
These buildings are against the mountains and close to waters, in harmony with th picturesque natural world, so the Western Pure Land is formed, as depicted in the Buddhist sutras and pursued by the Buddhists. The three major temples in Lhasa, namely, Ganden Monastery, Sera Monastery, Drepung Monastery are representatives of this type of constructions.
Architecute of Garden Style
As of the 18th century, Tibet witnessed rapid development in an all-round way. With the culture transported from the other parts of China into Tibet, Tibetan castles and palaces took diversified forms and garden-style constructions emerged.
These buildings great in scale and complete in ranges embody the uniqueness of Tibet. The preeminent construction of this style was Norbulingka(literally means”Jewel park”), first built in the middle of the 18th century. The seventh Dalai built the minor halls and then grew plants in the courtyards, thus a serene and beautiful garden emerged; the eighth Dalai built a pond in the middle of which was erected a Lake-Heart Palace and a Dragon King Palace; the 13th Dalai built Golden Phobrang; the 14th Dalai built Tatanminqiu Phobrang whose interior decoration emanated modern charm. Thanks to the joint efforts of a few generations, today it is grand in scale covering 360,000 square meters and full of various styles of architecture. As a classic embodiment of the Tibetan flavors, Norbulingka has proved itself to be a grand palace as well as a beautiful garden.
