Tombs of the Tibetan Kings

Located on Mure Mountain in Qonggyai County of Shannan Prefecture, Tombs of the Tibetan Kings refer to the tombs of the 29th to 40th kings of Tubo Kingdom, as well as their queens and ministers. Tombs of the Tibetan Kings cover an area of 385 square meters. The number of the tombs here is still not confirmed and only eight or nine tombs could be seen.

Tombs of the Tibetan Kings - Brief Introduction

The scale of Tombs of the Tibetan Kings tops among the existing tombs of Tibetan kings in Tibet. There are eight large of mounds of earth resembling natural hills that are believed to be the tombs of eight or nine Tibetan kings, including Songtsen Gampo (the first king of Tibetan Empire, Nansong Mangsten, Tridu Songtsan, Gyangtsa Laban and so on.

Two stone lion steles were sited in front of the Tombs of the Tibetan Kings. One of them had been badly destroyed while the other one had lost one of its legs. The lion is 1.55 meters high and stands on a 0.76 meter high platform.

Tombs of the Tibetan Kings - Location

The Tibetan kings decided to construct their tombs in Qonggyai County for many reasons. Qonggyai is a treasure place and a lot of outstanding people were born and cultivated here. Several Tibetan kings built palaces here. The palace in Qonggyai is the second palace of Tubo Kingdom after Yungbu Lakhang.

The capital of Tubo Kingdon was at Qonggyai during that period. Qonggyai played as one of the political, economic and cultural centers. After Songtsen Gampo moved his political center to Lhasa from Shannan Prefecture, the old royal families also lived in Qonggyai.

There were three stone steles here according to record. But only two steles and stone lions were discovered so far. Both the architectural style of the steles and the lions were similar to the architectural of Chinese Tang Dynasty. It proves that Tibetan and Chinese Tang Dynasty communicated a lot in history.

Tombs of the Tibetan Kings - Tomb of Songtsen Gampo

The largest mound which is located near the northern bank Qonggye River is indicated to be the tomb of Songtsen Gampo. The entrance of the mound faces the southwest toward the hometown of Sakyamuni to express the devoutness to the Buddha. There is a temple on the mound; both the statues of Songtsen Gampo and Princess Wencheng were enshrined in the temple.

It is recorded that there were five shrines in the tomb of Songtsen Gampo. The statues of Songtsen Gampo, Princess Wencheng, and Sakyamuni were enshrined in the shrines. There was also a large quantity of treasures, jewelries were buried with Songtsen Gampo.