Lagari Palace

Lagari Palace

Lagari palace, also known as lagari Palace site, is a palace complex located in the south of qusong County, Tibet Autonomous Region. Built in the 13th century, it is a symbol of the royal power of the descendants of the Tubo king after the Sakya and Pazhu regimes. The existing buildings can be divided into three phases: early, middle and late. The early architecture, known in Tibetan as "Zaxi qunzong", was built in the 13th century, with the highest existing 12 meter palace wall and South and north gates; the middle architecture, known in Tibetan as "Gandan Razi", was built in the 15th century; it is the main existing building of the lagari Palace site, which is composed of the palace, warehouse, LAKANG (Palace), square, stables, etc. it was originally 5 floors, but now has 3 floors. There are still some murals; the late architecture is called "Summer Palace", which was built in the 18th century, and the existing part is a basically complete courtyard palace.

Historical evolution

It is difficult to make a detailed study on the date of the first construction of lagari palace. Based on the comprehensive analysis of the characteristics of the existing architectural remains and the field survey data, it is inferred that the approximate date of the third phase of the building is as follows:

Early architecture: it was built around the 13th-14th century.

Medium term architecture: the main part was built in the 15th-18th century.

Late architecture: it was built at the end of the 15th century, and the existing part has been reconstructed by modern architecture.

The above-mentioned buildings have been reconstructed, repaired or used for other purposes in modern times, and the age of the main parts of them is estimated from the beginning of construction.

Palace architecture is an important category of ancient architecture in Tibet. It is rare to preserve it completely. The palace architecture of lagari palace basically maintains the original plane layout and architectural structure, which is extremely precious in such a unique category of ancient Tibetan palaces. As a Tibetan palace building, some small wooden works, especially the use of the Dougong above the door brace, undoubtedly integrate some factors of the ancient buildings in the Han Dynasty, so it has more important research value.

The lagari palace was listed as a key cultural relic protection unit at the autonomous region level on April 16, 1996 and a national key cultural relic protection unit on June 25, 2001.

Building information

Lagari palace is located in the north edge of gaotaidi in the south of qusong county. The building complex is located in Xiajiang Township, with an altitude of 3880 meters.

According to the date of its founding, the existing architectural remains of the palace can be divided into three periods

Early Architecture -- the old palace "zhaxiqunzong"

Mid term architecture: new palace "Gandan Razi" (also known as lagari pozhang)

Late Architecture -- Xia Guan

The new lagari palace is the main part of the existing buildings in lagari palace, which was built from the 15th century to the 18th century. Located in the northeast of the whole building complex, it is composed of a series of building units, such as palace, warehouse, Lacan, square and stables. The building complex is adjacent to the river valley in the north and an artificial trench in the East. It covers an area of 120 meters from north to South and 130 meters from east to west, with a total area of nearly 160000 square meters.

The building area of the palace is about 5000 square meters, which is divided into two parts: the East Building and the West building. The bottom floor of the palace is connected by a corridor style cave. The building was originally 5 floors, but now only 3 floors are left. It is the main place for members of the royal family to live and deal with government affairs.

"Zhaxi qunzong" in the old palace

The building is about 180 meters to the west of Gandan Razi, which is slightly lower than the new palace. It covers an area of 100 meters from north to South and 70 meters from east to west, with a total area of 7000 square meters.

Surrounded by stone walls, the palace now has only the East, South and west walls. The west wall is 16 meters long and 5-8 meters high; the east wall is basically complete and has a turning point in its direction. There is still a section of the inner wall, 40 meters long and 70 meters long respectively; the south wall is connected with the nangongmen, and its west end has been decayed. The stones used in the palace walls are regular, with yellow mud as the binder. The outer walls are polished neatly, with a maximum of 15 meters.

The north gate has completely collapsed, while the south gate remains. The south gate has two parts. The first part is the East-West porch outside the palace wall, which faces west and is 6 meters wide. There are several stone steps built by stones, which lead to the porch from the bottom to the top. The second part of the porch is directly on the upper part of the South palace wall, which faces south and has a ladder of more than 10 meters high, which leads to the north of the palace. The second part of the porch is due north, which is composed of the main gate and the side gate. The main entrance has no porch, 7.5m wide, 2.6m deep, 2 columns in total, 2m high; the porch is 3.2m high and 3.2m wide. The main door has three kinds of essential door files, which are carved with lotus petals and beaded patterns, and the door brace is painted with patterns of lotus and peony. There are carvings and painted patterns on the doorpost, which bear the four fold structure of the doorpost. There are also painted lotus patterns on the doorpost. The side gate is located in the east of the main gate and also faces north, which is a corridor type. The doorway is 6 meters high, 1.6 meters wide and 12 meters deep, all of which are stone buildings. There are only two wooden brackets on the door brace to support the door charm. There are thin wooden strips on the top of the doorway, which are covered with mud and stone.

Most of the buildings in the palace walls have been decayed or converted into dwellings by using their remains, so the layout and shape of the palace walls can not be observed. On top of the corridor side door, there is a gatehouse, covering an area of about 10 square meters, with a small light window in the north and south.

New palace "Gandan Razi"

Gandan Razi is the main part of the existing building of lagari palace, which is located in the northeast of the whole building complex. It is composed of a series of building units, such as palace, warehouse, Lacan, square and stables. The building complex is adjacent to the river valley in the north and an artificial trench in the East. It covers an area of 120 meters long from north to South and 130 meters wide from east to west, with a total area of nearly 160000 square meters.

Summer Palace

The summer palace is located in Luobulinka, about 1000 meters northeast of Gandan Razi (now in the county administrative compound), near zapujiu River in the north and Gaoya in the south, with an altitude of 3840 meters.

Most of the original buildings, including palace walls, baths and palaces, have disappeared. The Summer Palace used to be the summer resort of lagari palace, but now there is only a small palace.

The palace is located about 50 meters northeast of the administrative office building in Jinxian county. It is a quadrangle palace. The palace faces south in the north, with a row of three questions in the north main room. It is 18 meters wide and 4 meters deep. There is a wing room in the East and a courtyard in the West. There are no stone steps in front of the main room and the wing room. The doors and windows of the main and wing rooms are all designed in the style of Chinese lattice windows and plate doors. There are 14 grooves on the eaves of the doors and on the windows. They are engraved with patterns of peony, lotus, Phoenix and rolled grass. They are of Chinese style.

The lagari lineage is an independent local separatist force in Tibetan history. Its ancestor is the direct lineage of e song, a descendant of the Tubo royal family. After the 10th century, the royal family gradually formed and developed in qusong area of Shannan. After the reign of Sakya Dynasty (about 1255-1353) and Pazhu Dynasty (1354-1617), it still maintained a relatively independent local ruling privilege. Until 1959, before the democratic reform in Tibet, the lagari lineage still governed a vast area of lagari, SANGRI, Jiacha and Longzi, with a radius of three to four hundred Li.

The lagari lineage of Shannan

The ancestor of the lagari lineage was the lineage of Wei Song, a descendant of the Tubo royal family. He occupied the qusong area in Shannan area of Tibet. After several generations of accumulation, he gradually developed into an independent local separatist force in Tibetan history.

The name of "Gary" comes from the name of the monastery. After the completion of Kali temple, the descendants of this Tubo royal family took the name "Kali" and preceded it with the word "La", which is the transliteration of "God" in Tibetan, thus forming the "lagari" royal family.

With the development of history, the king of lagari has gradually become a local ruling group with the unity of politics and religion, known as the "king of lagari". The former name of qusong county "lagari" came from this.

In the middle of the 13th century, the Yuan Dynasty unified all the ministries in Tibet. Among the "130000 households" set up by the central government in Tibet, lagari was included. The unique position made the king of lagari grow up little by little. At the time of the greatest influence, the scope of power of the lagari royal family included the South Bank of the Yarlung Zangbo River, SANGRI, qusong, Jiacha, Longzi in the present Shannan area to the east of the niangguo bridge, and Lang County in the present Linzhi Area.

In order to facilitate the rule, the rulers of the lagari family built a new lagari Palace on the northern edge of the high terrace in the south of qusong county. To the north of the palace lies the river valley, and from a distance it seems to be on the top of the mountain. Perhaps the royal family has the custom of condescending, from yongbulakan in Yalong period to Potala Palace in Tubo Period, and then to lagari palace, which we can see, all reflect the momentum that the king is respected by thousands of people.

During the period of Sakya Dynasty, qusong remained relatively independent in administration because of the rule of lagari. In the late 14th century, the Pazhu Dynasty replaced the Sakya Dynasty to establish a new ruling order, and the "lagari Fawang" became subordinated to the Pazhu Dynasty and paid tribute and taxes to it. Therefore, the Pazhu dynasty did not establish a patriarchal system in the lagari region, thus further maintaining the independent local separatist forces of the lagari kingdom.

At the beginning of the 18th century, during the war of the Qing army's entering Tibet and expelling the Junggar tribe, the king of lagari was severely punished by the gaxia government of Tibet for assisting the Junggar army to confront the Qing army

Chinese PinYin : La Jia Li Wang Gong