page_title: Alchi Monastery
section_title: Structures
hierarchical_section_title: Alchi Monastery / Structures
caption_attribution_description: Image of KAN-NON(観音)of Alchi gompa(アルチ寺) in Ladakh.
context_page_description: Alchi Monastery or Alchi Gompa is a Buddhist monastery, known more as a monastic complex of temples in Alchi village in the Leh District, under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council of the Ladakh Union Territory. The complex comprises four separate settlements in the Alchi village in the lower Ladakh region with monuments dated to different periods. Of these four hamlets, Alchi monastery is said to be the oldest and most famous. It is administered by the Likir Monastery.
  Alchi is also part of the three villages which constitute the ‘Alchi group of monuments’; the other two villages adjoining Alchi are the Mangyu and Sumda Chun. The monuments in these three villages are stated to be of "unique style and workmanship’, but the Alchi monastic complex is the best known.
  The monastery complex was built, according to local tradition, by the great translator Guru Rinchen Zangpo between 958 and 1055. However, inscriptions in the preserved monuments ascribe it to a Tibetan noble called Kal-dan Shes-rab later in the 11th century.
context_section_description: The monastery complex has three major shrines: the Dukhang (Assembly hall), the Sumtsek and the Temple of Manjushri, all dating from between the early 12th  and  early 13th centuries. Chortens are also an important part of the complex. In addition, the Alchi complex has two other important temples, the Translator's temple called the 'Lotsabha Lakhang' and a new temple called the 'Lakhang Soma'. This collection of four small shrines in the Alchi village has been described by The Hindu: 
  ... as a jewel of colours and forms that is so utterly beautiful that the normal state of breathlessness in this high altitude becomes a deep gasp.
  The artistic and spiritual details of both Buddhism and the Hindu kings of that time in Kashmir are reflected in the wall paintings in the monastery complex. These are some of the oldest surviving paintings in Ladakh. The complex also has  huge statues of the Buddha and "lavish wood carvings and art-work — almost baroque in style." Shakti Maira vividly explains the beauty of this small monastery as "stylistically rendered in an eclectic mix of Tibetan and Kashmiri faces and clothes."
caption: An image of Tara in Manjushri
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