Palcho Monastery

Located in Gyantse, the Palcho Monastery or Pelkor Chode Monastery or Shekar Gyantse was founded by Raptan Kunsang in 1418, under the spritual guidance of Tsongkhapa’s disciple Kedup Je. It is a complex composed of sixteen monasteries of three different sects : Gelugpa, Sakyapa and Bhoton. The Kumbum Pagoda in the monastery is one of the most magnificent buildings in Tibet, it has one hundred and twelve chapels in it, many of the paintings in Kumbum are the work of fifteen century Nepalese craftsman and are among the best preserved examples of that style to have survived in Tibet.