Lhasa
Norbulingka
Lhasa’s summer residence brings palace rooms, planted grounds, paths and performance spaces into a different rhythm from the Potala.
Courtyards, workshops and watersheds
Tibet.
Follow a line, a river, a circle
A carved printing block in Nyemo, a line of pigment on a thangka, a fiddle moving with dancers in Mangkang: small actions open large landscapes. Lhasa’s courtyards lead into the monastery and farming country of Shigatse and Shannan. Farther east, Nyingchi’s forest valleys and Chamdo’s salt terraces follow different rivers and working traditions. Northward, Nagqu’s lake shores and migration routes change the scale; westward, Ngari’s ruins, caves and wetlands ask for another pace of looking. Read across these seven regions, keeping each place, maker and tradition in view.
Potala Palace
At Lhasa, a palace rises above the valley as a record of changing belief, rule and everyday life.
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Begin with a material, a movement or a riverbank.
Nyingchi
Basum Tso
At Basum Tso, Tsozong Gongba Monastery on Tashi Island and the villages of Jeba and Cuogao turn a mountain lake into a lived cultural landscape.
Ngari
Guge Ruins
Tsaparang gathers palace remains, caves and Buddhist monuments on a steep ridge above the Zhada landscape. Recent radiocarbon and textual research refines the dates of several structures, showing a capital built and adapted across distinct periods.
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Continue through all seven regions.
From the journal
The Potala’s Painted Walls and Written Leaves
Murals, scroll paintings and palm-leaf manuscripts reveal another scale of the Potala, where architecture shelters fragile surfaces and recorded knowledge.
From the journal
Gyantse Kadian: From Wool and Knots to a Soft Pile
A 2015 report from Gyantse follows carpet makers through the work of sorting, spinning, dyeing, weaving and shearing wool into a household textile.
From the journal
Yamdrok’s Shore: Where the Landscape Needs Care
The meeting of water and land at Yamdrok connects the lake’s irregular geography with practical questions of waste, water use and habitat protection.
From the journal
Midui Glacier and the Village at Its Foot
Near Midui Village in Bomi County, glacier ice, mountain forest and village life meet; dated photographs preserve seasonal views, while a 2022 report records local horse-team visits.
From the journal
Reading Ranwu Lake by Its Inflows
A field study of Ranwu Lake’s water balance in 2015 traced seasonal contributions from rain and glacier melt. Photographs from May 2012 show an exposed lakebed and sediment work, preserving an earlier moment rather than describing today’s shoreline.
From the journal
Selin Co: A Lake Seen from Space and Watched on the Ground
A 2017 Landsat image shows Selin Co in natural color. NASA’s account of a long satellite study places that striking view beside a measured change in summer blooms and the lake’s role as a wetland stopover for migrating birds.
From the journal
The Tholing Manuscript and Tibetan Kingship
A twelfth-century manuscript found near Tholing preserves a historical narrative centred on Tibetan kingship, distinct from Buddhist histories of its period.
Explore the seven regions
Choose a region to browse its published places and articles.
Lhasa
Around Jokhang, Barkhor brings devotional movement, trading streets and the thresholds of old courtyards into close proximity. The Nichi tradition links the shape of a bamboo nib with disciplined letter forms and a history of teaching centred on Nyemo.
All articlesShigatse
A 2015 report from Gyantse follows carpet makers through the work of sorting, spinning, dyeing, weaving and shearing wool into a household textile. In Lhatse knife-making, a forged steel blade meets a handle of horn or wood and a sheath worked in silver, copper and engraved motifs.
All articlesShannan
On the south bank of the Yarlung Tsangpo, Jêdêxoi’s woollen aprons connect coloured stripes with spinning, dyeing, weaving and family teaching. The painter Menla Dondrup’s connection with northern Lhodrak opens a story of training, travel and the changing role of landscape in Tibetan painting.
All articlesNyingchi
Near Azha village in Upper Chayu, a long glacier descends toward forest, giving the landscape its “green-sea glacier” image. At Basum Tso, Tsozong Gongba Monastery on Tashi Island and the villages of Jeba and Cuogao turn a mountain lake into a lived cultural landscape.
All articlesChamdo
An official Chamdo tourism profile locates three differently named lakes at Puyu Village and describes how they sit in relation to one another. Its account connects color names to shoreline and mineral observations, while leaving water chemistry and seasonal change for closer study. In Waichong Village, woodblock carver Zepei describes a craft learned from childhood and carried into a workshop with younger apprentices. The work joins careful material preparation to the exacting demands of Tibetan calligraphy.
All articlesNagqu
The Gesar epic travels through performance rather than a single fixed book. Its episodes, musical choices and regional versions keep the story in motion. At Selin Co National Nature Reserve, wildlife ranger Tsering Tagqing patrols on a motorcycle with binoculars, provisions and a notebook. His own short videos have also brought crane nesting and care into public view.
All articlesNgari
Tsaparang gathers palace remains, caves and Buddhist monuments on a steep ridge above the Zhada landscape. Recent radiocarbon and textual research refines the dates of several structures, showing a capital built and adapted across distinct periods. A twelfth-century manuscript found near Tholing preserves a historical narrative centred on Tibetan kingship, distinct from Buddhist histories of its period.
All articlesPhoto credits and rights
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Tsaparang citadel, photographed in 2016. Photo: Jean-Marie Hullot; CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.Jean-Marie Hullot · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗