Tradruk Monastery

Tradruk Monastery

Tradruk Monastery is also known as Changdu Monastery in Chinese. It is located in the Yarlung Valley, Shannan prefecture, Tibet. This monastery is said to be the earliest imperial monastery in Tibet that was built in the 7th century during the reign of Songtsan Gampo. People said that Princess Wencheng also stayed and practiced Buddhism here once and left several relics. Later, Tradruk was converted to Gelugpa and reconstructed later.
The innermost chapel situated in the center of the monastery, which is said to hold Buddha statues of stone and a Tara Statue before. Today, it host clay figures and contain the fragments of the original statues.

The highlight of this monastery is the Thangka that embroidered with thousands of pearls that be kept in the central chapel on the upper floor. This Thangka is one of the three Thangkas that made by Princess Wencheng. The two others are in the reliquary stupa of the 5th Dalai Lama in Potala Palace and in Shigatse, respectively.