Yumbulagang

Yumbulagang Palace, known as the first imperial palace in Tibet, was built for Nyatri Tsanpo, the first Tibetan King in the 2nd century BC. It then became the summer palace of Songtsan Gampo and Princess Wencheng. In the 7th century AD, Songtsan Gampo moved the capital to Lhasa and Yumbulagang gradually became a Buddhist palace, and then the 5th Dalai Lama changed it as the monastery of Old-Yellow Hat Sect (Kadamspa). The palace is an antique fort located in Yarlung River Valley near Tsetang Town. "Yumbu" means female deer named after the shape of the Jormo Zhaxi Ceri Mountain which looks like a female deer. "lagang" means sacred palace. Hence the name of Yumbulagang "the sacred palace of mother and son" in Tibetan dialect, the palace is mainly divided into two parts: the front part is multi-layer palace, while the back part is a square watchtower of a high blockhouse connected with the front part.