Tashilhunpo Monastery

Tashilhunpo was founded in 1447 and grew into a walled complex of assembly halls, chapels, colleges and whitewashed monks' quarters covering a hillside, large enough to read as a town in itself, with gilded roofs above the ochre and white. Its most striking single object is the Jampa Buddha, a Maitreya figure of 26.2 metres completed in 1914, covered in gold and studded with jewels, standing in a purpose-built hall that visitors climb alongside floor by floor. Chapels hold the reliquary stupas of successive abbots, and a wall on the hillside is used to hang a huge appliqué thangka at festival time.

What you actually see

• The Jampa Buddha - a gilded Maitreya over twenty-six metres tall.
• The reliquary stupas - the tombs of successive abbots in the chapels.
• The monastic town - halls and quarters covering the hillside.
• The thangka wall - the structure used to display a giant painted banner.

When to go

April to October for mild weather; the thangka festival falls in summer and is the busiest and most spectacular time. Shigatse sits at 3,840 metres. Foreign visitors need a permit and guide.

Honest expectations

Photography inside chapels is restricted or charged. The complex involves considerable climbing at altitude. Shigatse itself is a modern city with limited other draw.

Nearby

Gyantse lies southeast; Everest base camp is south.