1963
Ganden Namgyeling (Tib. ri bo dga’ ldan) was Tibet’s first Geluk monastery, founded in 1409 by the Tibetan Buddhist monk and philosopher, Tsongkhapa. The Monastery was destroyed in 1966 and throughout the years following. Local monks began to restore the monastery with donations and volunteer labor in the early 1980s, and the Chinese government shifted from prohibiting to supporting the restoration by 1986. With its rebuilt structure, Ganden remains as one of the three main Geluk Monasteries in Tibet, located about 40 km outside of Lhasa.