Samye Monastery

Samye Monastery is Tibet’s first monastery and also the Top 1 University. King Trisong Detsen constructed the building in the 8th century. However, the temple was destroyed and rebuilt several times. Today, only a fraction of its original 108 buildings survive. We choose to visit here because we want to see the marvellous historical architecture and precious murals.

Wuzi Hall surprised us first of all for it represents the centre of universe Sumeru Mountain. The design of the building combined different styles as the first floor was built by local Tibetan style. The middle floor filled with Chinese architecture style and the top floor was under the influence of Indian style. There were four more walls representing oceans around the Wuzi Hall. Also, there are two halls represent sun and moon in the monastery.

Moreover, Four special pagodas with four different colors (green, red, black and white) were been put in the monastery to suppress devils. The murals in Samye Monastery was also a highlight attraction. From the precious murals, we learned the Tibetan Buddhism story and historical events of monasteries.

It took us about three hours to visit Samye Monastery. I think if you have more time, why not spend whole morning or afternoon to here? Just to relax yourself and visit this historical buildings and appreciate its classical collections.

For more travel information, please contact the local Tibet travel agency.