Ruins of the Guge Kingdom

Located in the Zhada County, Ngari Region, Tibet Autonomous Region, Ruins of the Guge Kingdom is the highest ancient city in Tibet with an area of about 180,000 square meters. It is one of the first batches of the national key culture relic protection unit and its ruins provided precious material information in the study of the Tibetan history and the ancient architecture in Tibet.

The Guge Kingdom

About the origin of this ancient kingdom, it can be dated back to the late period of the Tubo Kingdom. The ancient Guge Kingdom was founded by a descendant of King Lang Darma in about the tenth century. The production development in the country and the war around the country are all need the manpower and the financial and material capabilities. What’s worse, as the introduction and the expansion of the Tibetan Buddhism, the kingdom and the leader of the Buddhism had a severe conflict, which lead to the war and the collapse of the whole kingdom. Before the 1980s, the ancient Guge Kingdom is a strange name for most people. However, since a series of archaeological work has been expanded here in 1985 and a great harvest was achieved, the extinct kingdom came into people’s eyes. With its long history, unique scenery and distinctive architecture, the ancient Ruins of the Guge Kingdom attracts millions of tourists at home and abroad every year.

The Site

At present, the relatively well preserved Guge Kingdom is actually the site of the central government at that time. It has a strict level rank, and the one who lives the highest has the eminent status. In this mysterious kingdom, there stand three temples. The sculptures in the temple were destroyed in the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. Now, the explorers have found a total number of 1,416 surviving pieces of architecture, including 879 caves, 445 houses, 60 blockhouses, 28 pagodas, arm storerooms, granaries and all kinds of burial places. In the complex of the architectures, there are four tunnels leading in all directions inside the architectural group of the Ruins of Guge Kingdom.

In this snowy plateau with an altitude of about 4,000 meters, the Guge Kingdom has once created a miracle. However, all of the glory and the magnificent has faded way and only left some mottle of ruins and large loess. The outer walls of the Kingdom are made of loess. From the ruins of the city, we can still see some remains of the walls that are decorated with many figures of Buddha, scriptures and incantations in Tibetan, and Sanskrit engraved on large cobbles. The Guge Kingdom has a strict level rank, so the places, temples and the local residences are distributed from the top to the bottom. The one who lives in the highest ranks the first in the country. The layout of the architectures here is designed to indicate the supremacy of the king and to ensure the safety of the palaces.

The Cultural Relics

The sculptures in Guge Kingdom are mainly the gold and silver Buddhist sculptures. Among all the sculptures, the most famous are the ancient sculpture with a name of Guge Yinyan. The murals in the city are the best preserved remains with the maximum number, which has an overall review of the social life at that time. The walls here are also the treasure of the engraving art. The fortress on the corner of the wall was not only a defense system at that time but also the crystallization of the war and the art.

The Red Temple and the White Temple

In the architectural complex relics of the Guge Kingdon, the most conspicuous architecture are the Buddhist buildings. At present, there are only six are preserved, including the Tancheng Hall, White Temple, Red Temple, the Grand Weide Hall, Dumu Hall and the Buddhist Pagoda. Among them, the White Temple and the Red Temple are about the same size, covering 300 square meters. More than 700 square meters of the temple are decorated with the colored drawings of patterns and figures of Buddha. The patterns on the ceiling can reach as many as 500 kinds, including the subject of Flying apsaras and the auspicious beasts. All of these patterns are bright in color and smooth in the line, which reveal the unique artistic temperament and the styles.