There is a saying that you can never really understand Tibetan history until you have visited the Sakya Monastery. This is because the monastery is not simply a religious site, but historically it has been the place where Buddhism affairs were managed nationally and acted as the administrative center of Tibet during the Yuan Dynasty.

Sakya Monastery was built in 1073 A.D. in the Sakya County of Shigatse City, Tibet Autonomous Region.

It is the patriarch temple of the Sakya Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, and was enlisted as a national key cultural relic protection site by the State Council in 1961.

Taking up an area of 45,000 square kilometers, the Sakya Monastery is one of the largest monasteries in Tibet. As the monastery wall was painted with red, white, and black stripes, the Sakya Sect became known colloquially as the Colorful Sect.

The monastery has the largest number of cultural relics and ancient scriptures, and it is renowned as the "Second Dunhuang". (Dunhuang often refers to Dunhuang Grottoes, featuring historic and religious murals and ancient books, located near the edge of the desert on the ancient Silk Road in northwest China's Gansu Province.)

Between 2002 and 2008, a large amount of funds for maintenance were allocated to the monastery by the Chinese central government.

Photo shows a monk walking through the main gate of Sakya Monastery.[Photo/Xinhua]

Photo shows monks of Sakya Monastery.[Photo/Files]

Photo shows Buddhist scripture and books stored in the walls of Sakya Monastery.[Photo/Xinhua]

Photo shows the scenery of Sakya Monastery.[Photo/Xinhua]