The castle-fortress of Gyantse

Fortress in Gyangze

08/2011 Gyangze is one of the few cities in Tibet that has some kind of fortress or castle. The city of Gyangze, which is particularly famous for its highland barley, is located at 3,977 meters, has around 60,000 inhabitants and is the fourth largest city in Tibet. The history of the fortress goes back to the 9th century and it became a monastery in the 14th century. Our tour guide explained the similarity to the Potala Palace in Lhasa with a funny story. According to this, the people in charge in Gyangze sent an emissary to Lhasa to make a drawing of the Potala Palace. They wanted to recreate the palace here. However, the man in Lhasa had no paper and so he bought a pumpkin at the market and scratched the outline into the shell. On its journey back to Gyangze, the gourd shrank and therefore the palace in Gyangze became significantly smaller than the Potala Palace in Lhasa.