Panchen Lama Mausoleum Halls

Within Tashilhunpo Monastery, a series of gilded mausoleum halls preserve the remains of successive Panchen Lamas in elaborate silver and gold stupas. The most dramatic is the Great Hall of the Panchen Lamas (Kumbum), completed in 1662 for the fourth Panchen Lama, its stupa rising 35 metres through several storeys of chapel. The walls are lined with religious paintings and the air is thick with burning butter.

The hall of the tenth Panchen Lama — a distinct newer building — is imposing in a different way. Completed in 1994 after the destruction of the original in the Cultural Revolution, it houses a golden stupa ten metres high, encrusted with jewels. Monks perform continuous prayer ceremonies in the adjoining chapel, and the whole complex has an air of institutional weight that distinguishes it from the older halls.

Photographing inside the mausoleum halls requires a separate permit, sold at the monastery entrance. The fee varies; guards are alert to unpermitted cameras. The halls are within the general monastery complex and are included in the standard entry ticket for Tashilhunpo.

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A story
The mausoleum of the tenth Panchen Lama was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution along with most of the monastery. He was imprisoned for years, then later allowed a degree of freedom by China, and died suddenly in 1989 at age 50 — just four days after delivering a speech criticising Chinese policies in Tibet. His reconstructed mausoleum, completed in 1994, was partly funded by the Chinese government in an effort to improve relations with Tibetan Buddhists.

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