100,000 Buddhas...!, a photo from Tibet, West

Photographer's Note

From the position of the sun on the evening of our arrival in Gyantse, we analysed that the sun should be good in the morning for taking pictures of the village and monastery from the fortress on the top of the hill (please take note if you are planning a visit to Gyantse!). So we did not waste time in the morning, but walked to the fortress right after a little breakfast. We could enter the fortress around 8:30 hrs and the light was already quite harsh, but the view was still absolutely worth the climb.

In the foreground you can see the old part of Gyantse, while the complex surrounded by a defence wall in the background is the Pelkor Chöde monastery. The most eye-catching building is without doubt the large white chörten (or stupa): the Gyantse Kumbum. It is a Nepali style chörten (including large Buddha eyes painted on the outside) and houses an extremely large number of paintings and statues of Buddhas; "Kumbum" means 100,000! I don't know if there are really 100,000 Buddhas but there are too many too count, distributed over the six levels of the chörten.

The monastery complex is crowded by dogs. They are believed to be reincarnations of monks who apparently made a mistake during their human lifes. The previous picture of the fortress was taken from the hill that you can see on the above picture behind the Kumbum.

KevRyan, fayeulle, Fixfocus, lestans, erdna, robiuk, Rinie_Hoff, digi-mom, moldo-guy ha puntuado esta nota como útil.

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KevRyan (22956) 2006-02-25 5:20

Fantastic Michael - a real joy to see this place - well done for working out the shadows and sun - I've seen the stupa in photographs and paintings for years but never the wider context - excellent many thanks for showing us this.

bw Kev

fkk (2039) 2006-02-25 5:33

Merhaba Michael;
Very fantastic photo, great photo
I like the composition and clean shot
thanks for sharing...

catman-fatih

vagabondtravels (6511) 2006-02-25 7:20

Nice shot. Very sharp. An amazing town!

Fixfocus (9385) 2006-02-25 7:31

Hello Michael,
A posting with a high Te value.The depth from fore,-to background is amazing and the sidelight with it´s long shadows is just superb.Must be a fantastic place to visit.
Greetings,
Hermann

lestans (17258) 2006-02-25 8:39

Very well captured, very informative shot: you show the highlights of this place very well Main street, walls, temple, mountain, It is a perfect description, it is just what we expect from TE works. I must remember what you teach us about the right hour to go there.
TFS !!! Livia

erdna (5713) 2006-02-25 10:52

Your photographs on this series are all very interesting as I do not see and read about it everyday. With your good pictures and definitive descriptions, I have an idea of what it is all about. TFS.

Andre'

robiuk (10807) 2006-02-25 16:52

Yes, very interesting, Michael, to see the place now from the opposite direction. Seems to me like a magical place for living (or even just visiting).
Thanks for showing us wider view as I find interesting how different cultures find different ways of making settlements in such an interesting terrain configuration.
Can't see any cars, though - maybe because the streets are still in shadow?
Robi

jinju (14265) 2006-02-26 5:18

Michael,

a fascinating POV and a shot on a fascinating city. I love the ancient layout of this place with those walls. Im a big fan of ancient cities and ancient urban places. What a fascinating place to go.

Rinie_Hoff (9340) 2006-02-26 16:55

Hi Michael, indeed an extraordinary view on this complex, and I can really imagine that you want the morning light on this big complex
I wonder how high this is, the surroundings mountains are all tree-less and the seems to be no growth at all, except along the river, at least I see a sort of green ribbon.
Your note is excellent, as usual!