Place · Panchen Lama seat city · China
Shigatse
Also known as Xigaze, Rikaze
Shigatse (Tibetan: gZhis-ka-rtse) on the Nyang Chu where it joins the Yarlung Tsangpo is the second city of Tibet and the historical seat of the Panchen Lamas since the fourth Panchen moved here in the 17th century. The city sits at 3,840 metres on the trade route that linked Lhasa with Nepal (and from there with India across the Rasuwa, Kyirong and Nathu La passes), and until 1950 it was the headquarters of the Tsang region government that often ran in parallel to the Lhasa Ganden Phodrang. The old town is dominated by Tashilhunpo Monastery; the modern town carries the railhead of the Qinghai-Tibet railway's Shigatse extension (2014).
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 29.267, 88.881
Connections (1)
- Site withinTashilhunpo Monastery, Shigatse
Tashilhunpo monastery dominates the old quarter of Shigatse — the city grew up around the monastery after the first Dalai Lama founded it in 1447, and the Panchen Lama's seat has run the Tsang region's religious administration from here since the mid-17th century.
Sources
Standard reference.
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