Tar Temple

» Xining, Qing Hai

Tar Temple Overview & Map Weather Transportation Information

The Tar Temple (Kumbum Monastery) is located in Huangzhong County, 26 kilometers from Xining, capital of Qinghai Province. It was built in 1577 on Huangzhong town - the birthplace of Tsongkhapa. It covers an area of 144 thousand square meters. This group of buildings is constructed on the mountain slope with lofty temples and halls rising one upon another. The monastery is famous for its extraordinary sculptures of human figures, animals, and landscapes carved out of yak butter.

A little bit about the history

In memory of the founder of the Yellow Hat Sect, Tsongkhapa (1357 - 1419), an 11-meter-high pagoda was built at his birthplace. That is the Gelug monastery. The Gelug monastery and Jakyung monastery are the two ancient buildings of Tar Lamasery complex. Later it was enlarged into a monastery continually. Kumbum Monastery, namely the Tar Temple has a history of 400 years.

Buildings of the Temple

Standing in an imposing manner according to the gradient of the mountain, the Tar Temple is a group of buildings constructed on the mountain slope with lofty temples and halls rising one upon another. The palace buildings, Buddhist halls, scriptures rooms, sleeping quarters, as well as courtyards forming an integral whole, enhance each other's beauty.

The magnificent temples and halls are, in architecture, a perfect combination of the Han's style of palace buildings with upturned roof-eaves with Tibetan style under-eave walls and decorations. The spectacular Lamasery is scattered with tall ancient trees and Buddhist pagodas.

The Great Hall of Gold Tiles

In the center of the entire complex, the Great Hall of Gold Tiles is the core structure of the lamasery. The ridges of the hall's roof are decorated with auspicious objects such as treasure bottles, gold streamers, and gold deer. In the center of the hall is a silver pagoda built around a pipal tree; and a statue of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, is placed in the pagoda. In the hall there also exists a collection of hundreds of works by Tsongkhapa and his disciples as well as hand-written copies of scriptures in Tibetan and Mongolian.

Three treasures

The Tar Temple abounds in fascinating Buddhist stories as well as arts and crafts of superb workmanship. Butter sculptures, murals and appliques are its three unique works of art. Butter sculptures are all kinds of Buddha figures, portraits, flowers and trees and pavilions made of the mixture of white butter mineral dye. Filled with cotton and wool in between, the appliques here made of silk cuttings show the visitors a stereo sense. Most of the murals in Tar Temple are carved on the cloth.

Butter sculptures

Several months ahead of the Spring Festival, artists get to mix pure white butter with stony mineral fuels of various colors, and sculpt them into mountains, rivers, flowers, plants, figurines, trees, elephants, white cranes, old folk, Buddha immortals, officials and generals, halls, towers, pavilions, terraces, stories of religious life and mythologies. These sculptures, lifelike and in myriad forms and expressions, are excellent manual work.

Murals

Its unique characteristic is the fine workmanship, reputed as "no stroke but fine, no place but excellent". Mural paintings are done direct on walls and beams, but in most cases on fabrics. A kind of stony mineral dye is used in painting to keep pictures fresh for hundreds of years. The Tar Temple contains countless murals. There are numerous large-sized colorful and vivid mural paintings in the Great Temple of Golden Tiles, the Great Scripture Hall and the Small Scripture Hall. The pictures of the image of flying Bodhisattva clad in transparent fine gauze are the masterwork among the temple murals.

Appliques

They are made of colorful silk-fabric cuttings. These cuttings in the shape of Buddha, man, flower, plant, bird, wild animal, insect, fish etc. are sewn on a large silk fabric, in-between stuffed with wool, cotton or other woolly materials, to achieve three-dimensional effect. The oblong sheets or streamers of silk fabric with appliques of Buddha, scripture etc. hang from the ceilings or upon pillars all over the places in the Lamasery. They constitute a dazzling silk gallery. Artists of appliques pay particular attention to projecting the lines and contours of an individual figure. This fully demonstrates the artistic style and skill of Tibetan culture.

When to visit

Opening Hours: 8:00a.m. - 5:00p.m.

Attractions around » Xining, Qing Hai

Natural Scene

• Lake Qinghaihu

Historical Site

• Tar Temple
• Dongguan Mosque

Tar Temple Highlights

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• Temple of Universal Peace
• Putuo Zongcheng Temple
• Eight Outer Temples
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• Tar Temple
• Barkhor Street
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• Temple of Universal Happiness
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city highlights

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Temple & Monastery in Great China

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• Tar Temple
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• Temple of Universal Happiness
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• Tianhou Palace
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• Linggu Temple
• Najiahu Mosque at Yongning
• Haibao Pagoda
• Xilitu Zhao
• Dongguan Mosque
• Jiegu Temple

Tar Temple FAQ & Travelers's Tips