Tibet · The Building Lhasa Is Arranged Around
Jokhang Temple (大昭寺)
A seventh-century foundation, and the point all the pilgrimage circuits lead to. The streets of the old town are laid out as rings around it, and people have been walking those rings for centuries.
Quick Facts
The Short Version
| What it is | A temple founded in the seventh century, housing the image that is the destination of Tibetan pilgrimage, and the centre of Lhasa’s old city |
|---|---|
| Where | The middle of the Barkhor quarter, about a kilometre east of the Potala |
| Founded | Seventh century, under Songtsen Gampo. The building has been rebuilt and extended many times; some timber elements are very early |
| The image | The Jowo Shakyamuni, associated by tradition with the Tang princess Wencheng. The circuits through the city are walked toward it |
| The circuits | The Barkhor rings the temple and is walked clockwise all day. A wider circuit once ran around the whole old city |
| Listed | Added to the Potala Palace world heritage inscription in 2000 |
| Permits | Foreign nationals need a Tibet Travel Permit and a licensed guide, arranged before travel |
| Time needed | An hour inside, plus as long as you like on the Barkhor |
Why Go
A Temple, and the City Built Around It
1. The plan of Lhasa starts here
Lhasa’s old city is not laid out on a grid. It is laid out as a set of concentric circuits around this building: the inner passage inside the temple, the Barkhor around its outer wall, and formerly a wider ring around the whole settlement. Shops, houses and lanes arranged themselves along those circuits because the circuits were where people were.
That is why the Barkhor works as a street and a religious practice at the same time. People walking it clockwise are performing a circumambulation; the same people are also shopping, meeting and going somewhere. Both readings are correct simultaneously, and it is one of the few places where a city’s plan is this directly the product of what people do in it.
2. What happens at the front
Along the wall in front of the temple, people perform full-body prostrations: standing, then going to the knees, then full length on the ground, then rising and repeating. Many use wooden hand boards and leather aprons because the practice is repeated hundreds or thousands of times, and some have arrived having prostrated the entire way from their home region over months.
It is the thing foreign visitors remember from Lhasa, and it is worth knowing how to behave around it before arriving. People prostrating have right of way. Do not walk through the line of them, do not stand in the space they are moving into, and ask before photographing any individual closely. Photographing the scene at a distance is normal; photographing a person’s face at arm’s length while they are on the ground is not.
The catch. The interior is dark, tightly packed and slow. Chapels are small, the queue moves at the pace of the people in front, and the smell of butter lamps is heavy enough that some visitors find it hard. It is also a working temple with pilgrims in the same queue as tourists, which is the point, and it means the visit runs on their schedule rather than yours.
Orientation
Inside, Then Up, Then Round
The route runs through the courtyard into the chapels on the ground floor, then up to the roof terrace, and out. The terrace is worth the climb: it gives the golden roofs at close range and the view across the square, and it is the one part of the visit that is not a queue.
Then walk the Barkhor. It takes twenty minutes at a slow pace, it is free, and it is open from before dawn until late. Clockwise, always, in step with everyone else.
Practical
Things Worth Knowing
Go early
Mornings are when the temple is fullest with pilgrims and when it is most itself. Later in the day the balance shifts toward tour groups.
Clockwise on the Barkhor
Walking against the flow is both awkward and a visible mistake. Follow the direction everyone else is going.
Ask before photographing people
Particularly anyone prostrating or praying. Distance is fine; a lens in a face is not.
Hats off, and dress plainly
Remove hats inside the chapels, keep shoulders and knees covered, and keep your voice down. This is a working temple, not a monument.
Timing
When to Go
| Season | The case for | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| April to June | Dry, clear and comfortable, with the square in full use through the day | Cold nights at this altitude in any month |
| September to October | The clearest air of the year and the most settled weather | The first week of October is the national holiday and permits tighten |
| July to August | The busiest pilgrimage season, and the temple at its fullest | The rainy months, and the peak of domestic visitor numbers |
| November to March | The quietest months for tourism and often the busiest for pilgrims from outside Lhasa | Cold, and some access arrangements change over winter |
Context
Seventh Century, and Everything Since
The temple was founded in the seventh century during the reign of Songtsen Gampo, the ruler who unified the Tibetan plateau and whose marriages to a Nepali and a Tang Chinese princess are part of the traditional account of how Buddhism reached Tibet. The image now enshrined here is associated with the Tang princess Wencheng.
The building has been rebuilt, extended and repaired repeatedly over thirteen centuries, so what stands is a composite. Some timber elements are very old, and the carved doorframes and capitals show Newar workmanship from the Kathmandu valley, which is direct physical evidence of where the craftsmen came from.
It has been through periods of suppression and restoration, including damage in the twentieth century and repair afterwards. It functions today as a temple, receives pilgrims continuously, and is also a ticketed site on every visitor itinerary in Lhasa. Those two uses share the same doorway, which is the condition of the visit.
Nearby
Other Stops on the Same Trip
Spot · 1 km west
Potala Palace (布达拉宫)
The former seat of the Tibetan government on its hill. Do both, and do the Potala on a booked timed ticket.
Spot · 280 km west
Tashi Lhunpo Monastery (扎什伦布寺)
The seat of the Panchen Lamas at Shigatse, laid out as a monastic town on a hillside.
Street · around the temple
The Barkhor (八廓街)
The circuit itself: a ring of shops, houses and lanes that exists because the circuit does.
Where to Base
Lhasa (拉萨)
This building is the centre of the old city in a literal sense, and the Barkhor quarter around it is where most visitors spend their unstructured time in Lhasa. It is a short walk from most of the guesthouses and about a kilometre from the Potala.
Lhasa sits at 3,650 m. Two quiet days here before attempting anything strenuous is the difference between enjoying Tibet and spending it with a headache.
Experiences
What You Can Actually Do Here
On site · 1 hr
The chapels and the roof terrace
The ground-floor chapels in the queue with everyone else, then up to the golden roofs and the view over the square.
Free · 30 min
The Barkhor, clockwise
The circuit around the temple, walked with the people who walk it every day.
Guided · half day
The old city on foot
The temple, the circuit and the lanes off it, with someone who can explain what is happening and how to behave around it.
Worth an hour inside and longer outside. The chapels are dark and slow and the roof terrace is the reward; the Barkhor is free and is where the place actually happens. Go in the morning, walk clockwise, and read the etiquette above before you arrive rather than working it out at the door.
Plan a Lhasa Route Around the Old City
Tell us your dates and what you are after, and our local team will build the route: permits and a licensed guide arranged, two days to acclimatise, the temple and the Barkhor in the morning, and the Potala on a booked timed ticket.