(The Kumbum Stupa is the biggest stupa by the Palchoe monastery at the far end of the old town of Gyantse. It is about a fifteen-minute walk from the Gyantse hotel. It is open from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. There is an entrance charge of 60RMB per person).
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The Kumbum was built in 1440 by Rabten Kunzang. The second in a line of chieftains made Gyantse the capital of a small kingdom carved out of the surrounding regions.
Nearly all the monasteries around it are now destroyed, but the Kumbum has withstood all the battles with the British that have taken place since. Although many of the statues were somewhat defaced, they remain fairly intact.
The Kumbum (or Palkor Choten) at Gyantse is one of the most magnificent buildings in Tibet. Gold-capped, It greets you with two bewitching eyes painted high on its circular upper wall above the ascending symmetrical stories, which house one hundred and twelve chapels.
Of the statues and murals that inhabit the chapels, Tucci wrote: ‘Now peaceful, and now terrific, [they] seem to jump up alive before your eves, to the crowd on your subconscious to haunt your dreams as well.
You would think that the painters have by some wizardry conjured up living forces and driven them into their work and that these could float out of the walls, force their way into your soul and take possession of it by a magic spell.Â
Many of these paintings are the fifteenth century Newari (Nepalese) craftsmen and are among the best-preserved examples of that style to have survived in Tibet.
Until today with the help of the central, government the Kumbum stupa had m of repair works.Â
