Riwoche Monastery 类乌齐寺

About Riwoche Monastery

Its lower walls carry striking red, white and black vertical stripes, while the upper red and white storeys step inward beneath a golden roof. The building combines Tibetan, Chinese and Nepalese craft traditions. Inside, large columns, images and thangkas create a dense devotional setting associated with the Taklung Kagyu lineage. The exterior colour pattern alone makes this a distinctive visit before any permitted interior viewing.

Sangye On (桑吉温) founded the monastery in 1277 on the Nayi Tang plain (纳衣塘), beside the upper Se Qu River (色曲河), and became its first abbot. The monastery developed the 'Lower Taklung' branch, alongside the 'Upper Taklung' tradition at Taklung Monastery (达隆寺). It was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, restored on its original site in 1982 and reconsecrated on the fourth day of the sixth Tibetan month that year. Further major repairs followed in 1986.

Chajema Hall (查杰玛) became a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位) in 2006. Its holdings include more than 1,000 Buddhist statues, over 300 thangkas and numerous scriptures, with more than a hundred objects classified as national first- or second-grade cultural relics. Murals on two walls of the second-storey Red Hall (红殿) depict successive Kagyu teachers and eminent monks.

What to look for

• Chajema’s striped lower walls and receding red-and-white upper storeys.
• The great columned hall, with its Buddhist images and thangkas where viewing is permitted.

Location & getting there

Getting to Riwoche Monastery

Use Riwoche/Leiwuqi Monastery in Leiwuqi town, on the Nayi Tang plain in the upper Sechu valley.

• Specify the monastery town and Chajema hall, rather than assuming the county’s administrative centre is the same destination.