Tromzikhang ( Tibetan: ཁྲོམ་གཟིགས་ཁང་།; Wylie: ) is a historic building in

Barkhor Barkhor (), is the commercial center and busiest street of the old city of Lhasa, Tibet. The Barkhor Ring Road is composed of Barkhor East Street, Barkhor South Street, Barkhor West Street and Barkhor North Street. The circumference of Barkhor Str ...

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It is located northwest of Jokhang temple at the corner of the left side of Barkhor Tromshung Jang (street). It was demolished in the 1990s except for the magnificent facade. Today Tromzikhang is a notable market in Lhasa and a housing complex.

History

It was built in around 1700 on

Tromshung Jang and was once a government building for officials such as the

Amban Amban (Manchu language, Manchu and Mongolian language, Mongol: ''Amban'', Standard Tibetan, Tibetan: ་''am ben'', zh, t=昂邦, Uyghur language, Uighur:''am ben'') is a Manchu language term meaning "high official" ( zh, t=大臣, p=dàchén ...

s, representatives of the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

emperor. It was built under the command of the 6th Dalai Lama (1683–1706) and is sometimes referred to as the 6th Dalai Lama's Palace. A widening of the Barkhor over a length of some 80 metres forms the space of the Barkor Tromshung Jang. The Tromzikhang was built on the sunny northern side of the Barkor Tromshung Jang (North Barkhor Square). The surviving, but still splendid, symmetrical, three-storied façade runs the whole length of this side of the square. Where Ramoche Lam (Barkhor Changtrom Sanlan) enters the Barkhor from the north there used to be a large

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

and mani wall, now both completely demolished. It was 40 metres at its widest and 20 metres at its narrowest. Between 1938 and 1949, Tromzikhang was used as a Republican School, with a staff of Chinese, Hui and Tibetan teachers. It was built primarily for the local Chinese population of merchants with a number of staff from the Chinese Mission. Phuntsok Wangyal, a progressive pro-

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

Tibetan from Batang who founded the Tibetan Communist Party, also taught there for some time. The school taught pupils such as Gyalo Dondrup, the eldest brother of the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (born 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso; ) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served a ...

as well as Nepalese and Muslim minorities living in Lhasa. The school was closed down in 1949 when the Chinese Mission was expelled from Tibet.

Architecture

The building is characterized by its length; it has a 63-metre (207 ft) facade. The red "Pembe" stripe, located at the roof level, is used to signify that the residence was intended to be used by an incarnated

lama Lama () is a title bestowed to a realized practitioner of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. Not all monks are lamas, while nuns and female practitioners can be recognized and entitled as lamas. The Tibetan word ''la-ma'' means "high mother", ...

. The interior of the complex was demolished in 1997–1998 by the Chinese government. Nevertheless, the Barkor Street facade was retained during the redevelopments, and the area is now a housing complex and notable market.

Market

Today Tromzikhang market sells items such as yak butter, cheese, tea, noodles, vegetables and candy. A July 1994 study revealed that some 70% of traders at the market are Chinese. Nearby is Tromzikhang Bus Station and a mosque and a small 15th century building housing a two-story image of the

Maitreya Maitreya (Sanskrit) or Metteyya (Pali), is a bodhisattva who is regarded as the future Buddhahood, Buddha of this world in all schools of Buddhism, prophesied to become Maitreya Buddha or Metteyya Buddha.Williams, Paul. ''Mahayana Buddhism: Th ...

, named the Jamkhang. Tromzikhang and the mosque were badly affected by the anti-government protests in 2008.

Notes

References

*Larsen, Knud and Sinding-Larsen, Amund (2001). ''The Lhasa Atlas: Traditional Tibetan Architecture and Townscape''. Thomas & Hudson Ltd. . {{coord, 29, 39, 13.26, N, 91, 07, 58.6, E, region:CN_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures completed in 1700 Buildings and structures in Lhasa 1700 establishments in Asia