Ta'er Lamasery

The Ta'er Lamasery is built in the Ming Dynasty and is one of the China's six Gelupa lamaseries. It has an prestigious position in China's achitecture history. In 1749, Emperor Qianlong bestowed a board with his handwriting: fanzongsi. The lamasery is built over hillside, with an area of 40 hectares, which including 15 halls, 9,300 dormitory rooms for monks, and the building area is of 450 thousand square meters. The building style is a mixture of Han and Tibetan.

Major building of the lamasery include: Babaoruyi tower, Dajinwadian hall, Xiaojianwadian hall, Grand Scripture Hall, Wenshu Nodhisattva temple, Larangjixiangxiongong temple, Mizun Institute, butter flower sculpture exhibition hall, and grand kitchen. Dajinwadian hall is a three story building combining Han and Tibetan architecture style. As a main hall, it is located at the central position of Ta'er lamasery. Wall paintings, butter flower sculptures and Buddha portraits embroideries are unique of the Lamasery.

Admission fee: RMB80/p.p

How to get:

The best bet is to take one of the shared taxis that queque up at the Kunlun Bridge traffic circle south of the West Gate. Bus 3 runs here from the train station.

If you take a minibus back to Xining, you may be dropped at the private bus station, from where buses 22 or 29 will take you into the centre of town.