Visit Ruins of Guge Kingdom!!

ruins of old temple, guge
Originally uploaded by romana chapman.

The ruins of the royal palaces fo Guge Kingdom, now under state protection as a national cultural site, are found on an earthern mound some 300m in height on the southern bank of Langqen Zangbo River in Zanda County.

The ruins, scattered over an area of 180,000 sqm behind a city wall overlooked by watch towers in the four corners, include what has remained of 300 halls and cave dwellings, 3 Buddhist pagodas, 4 temples, 2 halls and 2 underground passageways.

The buildings were arrayed on three terraces, with imperial palaces in the upper terrace, temples on the middle terrace and dwellings on the lower terrace. There is no lack of exquisite sculptures and murals in the Red and White temples and Samsara Temple. The sculptures are mostly gilded and silver plated renditions of Buddhist sages, one of which, the "Guge Silver Eyes", represents the apogee of Guge Sculpture.

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