Southern Sakya Monastery

Tourists should not miss the Southern Sakya Monaster, which enjoys an unusual history, while they traveling in Shigaze.

Only a few relics of the Northern Sakya Monastery remain up to the present. What visitors see today is the Southern Sakya Monastery constructed in 1268 by the Sakya administrator Shakya Zanpo.

The Monastery is enclosed by walls that are interspersed with citadels. It looks very imposing, and the influence of Yuan style is obvious. Inside the entrance is an open courtyard; then comes the Lakang Chenmo Hall, with its 40 enormous columns, the largest of which is known as Jianaseqingewa, or "Pillar presented by the Yuan Dynasty from the hinterland". It is 1.5 meters in diameter and is topped by brackets.

The space between the beams is decorated with wooden animals, geometric designs and colorful paintings.The roof is adorned with gilded bronze peacocks, prayer wheels and other talismans. On the walls are pictures of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, Mandala and murals depicting the stories of Sakya Pandita and Phagspa, and the building of the Sakya Monastery.The Yuan rulers divided Anterior and Ulterior Tibet into 13 wanhu(10,000-household) units and put them under the administration of the Sakya administer. The Sakya Monastery was built with the manpower and materials of the wanhus and with the help of Han and Mongol artisans.