Monastery tours

One of the most surprising things about the Himalaya is how this desolate, almost monochrome landscape has produced so much vivid colour. From Amdo to Utsang Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, or gompas, guard a treasure trove of religious art, executed in an almost hallucinogenic palette of pigments and dyes. Behind the whitewashed walls of every Tibetan Buddhist monastery lurks a hidden world of golden sculptures and rainbow-coloured murals. These radiant artworks were clearly not inspired by the grey and ochre colour scheme of the Himalayan landscape; Tibetan Buddhist art is, at its purest level, art of the imagination.Travellers who delve into this mysterious world are confronted by an incredible panoply of deities, mythical beings and symbolism. Everything, from the layout of buildings to the precise positions of human figures in paintings and murals, is dictated by ancient principles of spirituality, geometry, and numerology. There are even rules for the direction that pilgrims must walk around Buddhist monuments – always clockwise, the same direction that Buddhist prayer wheels should be spun. For first timers, it can all be a little overwhelming. We will teach u what is what and how to behave.