Construction of Narthang Monastery (1153)

Narthang Monastery is a monastery located 15 km (9.3 mi) west of Shigatse in Tibet. Founded in 1153 by Tumtön Lodrö Drakpa, a student of Sharawa Yonten Drak. Narthang was an influential Kadam monastery, and the fourth great monastery of Tsang, with Shalu Monastery, Sakya and Tashilhunpo. Narthang was first famous for its scriptural teaching and monastic discipline. After the fourteenth century it gained great eminence as the oldest of Tibet's three great printing centres (the other being the Potala and the Derge).

With help from the fourth Panchen Lama, the fifth Dalai Lama alongside Sönam Rapten and Güshi Khan assimilated the Monastery as a branch of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. The fifth Panchen Lama invested in restoration projects for the monastery and it continued printing the Buddhist scriptures, the Kangyur and the Tengyur, until 1959. Narthang's five main buildings and large chanting hall were razed to the ground by the Chinese in 1966. They had contained priceless 14th century murals possibly painted by the artist scholars of nearby Shalu Monastery. Today, only the mud-brick foundations can be discerned although parts of the Mongolian styled high-fortress walls are still standing.

An English-language history of Narthang between the 12th and 15th centuries is available.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Narthang Monastery”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fetching the article from Wikipedia…

Meanwhile, elsewhere