Lhasa Tomb of the Tibetan Kings, China

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Tomb of The Tibetan Kings

Also called "the Tomb of Succeeding Tibetan Kings", the Tomb of the Tibetan Kings is situated on the Mure Mountain opposite to the Qiongjie County in the southeast Lhasa City.

It is the tomb group of the succeeding Tibetan kings in Tibet from the 7th century to the 9th century.

Covering an area of 3km, the Tomb of the Tibetan Kings leans the Mure Mountain at the back and faces the Yalong River. The tomb sits north, faces south, with 1,407 meters wide from south to north and 2,076 meters long from west to east, and is an outstanding momentum.

Each tomb has different size and height, but the forms are roughly identical, they all have square flat tops, but some have been erode by wind, rain, and later become round tombs. They are arranging disorderly, the highest is 10 meters and looked like a little mound from distance.

According to the historical materials, there was a tradition in Tibet Dynasty that is after emperor, prince, and imperial concubines died, they had to be bury in the old capital --- Qiongjie County.

Later the tomb crowd of the Tibetan succeeding kings formed. There are 13 Tibetan kings and imperial concubines buried here, but you can only see 9 tombs at present, other Tibetan kings' tombs are not dug up yet.

Legends say that the most famous emperor Srongtsan Gamoi in Tibet Dynasty and the Wencheng Princess in Tang Dynasty and succeeding emperors all buried here. However, the owner of the tombs mostly are unknown in textual criticism.

There is a pair of stone lions under the nearby peak, standing in front of the steps before the tomb of Chidesongzan. With 1.55 meters high, the stone lions' images are very vivid and the sculpture is very fine. The head of the stone lions are different from common stone lions, common stone lions' hair is curled on the whole head and neck, while this pair of lions' hair is curled and hanging down behind the brain.

With 3 Zhang high, a square pillar stone tablet is standing near the tomb. Although it experienced wind and rain for thousands of years, the ancient Tibetan praising the merits and achievements in Chidesongzan Emperor's life can still be distinguish on the tomb body.

There are stone cap covers on the top of the tomb and the carved decorative patterns around the stone caps are still very clear. Why only the tomb of Chidesongzan has stone tablet among so many tombs of kings? It is still a riddle now.

It is from the 7th century to the 9th century that the Tibetan civilization developed fastest. It is also a very important period that the Indian Buddhism was handed into Tibet and changed into Tibetan Buddhism, so these succeeding Tibetan kings' tombs possess history significance very much.

Therefore, the Tomb of the Tibetan Kings is listed in Chinese emphatic preservation of cultural relics in 1961.