Kundeling is one of the four "royal monasteries" of Lhasa — institutions whose abbots, the Ling Rinpoches, served as regents of Tibet between Dalai Lamas. It sits below the western flank of Chagpori, a short walk from the Potala, and is much smaller than the great teaching monasteries on the city's outskirts. The compound was almost entirely destroyed in the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt from the 1980s onwards.
What survives is a modest assembly hall and a handful of chapels, but the place is rarely busy and the resident monks are friendly. The walk in, through old residential lanes that have not yet been replaced with concrete, is much of the pleasure of the visit.