Ramoche Monastery in Lhasa

Ramoche Monastery is a rare-visit monastery compared to the noted Jokhang Temple though the two monasteries are less than 1000 meters away from each other. Actually, Ramoche Monastery is also an ancient monastery which could be dated back to 7th century.

Legend of Ramoche Monastery in Lhasa

Ramoche Monastery was firstly constructed in 640s A.D during the reign of Songtsen Gampo who united Tibet and established the Tubo Kingdom. For seek of a friendly relation with Chinese Tang Dynasty, Songtsen Gampo proposed a marriage connection with Emperor Taizong. Emperor Taizong approved the marriage between Princess Wencheng and Songtsen Gampo.

Princess Wencheng brought a statue of the 12-year-old Sakyamuni to Tibet from ChangAn (the ancient capital city which is called XiAn currently). The cart which carried the statue was stuck into the sand at the location of Ramoche Monastery. Princess Wencheng decided to construct a monastery here to enshrine the Sakyamuni statue. Hence, Ramoche Monastery was constructed.

The construction of Ramoche Monastery was started and completed at the same time with Jokhang Temple. The gate of the monastery faces east – the location of ChangAn. It is said that the orientation of the monastery greatly taken Princess Wencheng's homesickness into the consideration. Tourists making a visit to Ramoche Monastery would find that the construction here presents a distinct Han architectural style. Actually, that is because Princess Wencheng brought several Han skillful craftsmen to Tibet.

Structure of Ramoche Monastery in Lhasa

The main construction of Ramoche Monastery is a 3-storey palace. The ground floor is composed of courtyard, chapel and Buddha hall. Tourists pay a visit to this ancient monastery might be firstly impressed by the magnificent pillars standing in the halls. All the pillars are sculptured with different figures, characters or religious patterns.

The chapel in Ramoche Monastery takes a pretty large construction area. A series of valuable Buddhism sutra books were stored here. It is also the place for the lamas in the monastery to chant the sutra. There was also special room for the storage of the religious instruments.

The walls of the Buddha hall were painted with the figures of Sakyamuni. Except for the precious statue of Sakyamuni, several ancient statues of other Buddhas are also enshrined in Ramoche Monastery. Though Ramoche Monastery was mainly constructed by Han craftsmen from ChangAn, it also integrated the local Tibetan architectural style. The decorative murals, doors and windows, as well as the pillars present the typical Tibetan architectural features.