Rheumatologe: The Kumbum of Palcho Monastery at Gyantse

My first contact with the word Kumbum has been in a book by the German explorer Wilhelm Filchner (13.09.1877 – 07.05.1957). Now that I read the Wikipedia article on Filchner (“he travelled alone and on horseback through the Pamir Mountains, from Osh to Murgabh to the upper Wakhan to Tashkurgan and back”), I recall that I’ve been there, too, which means that his books (I’ve read others, too, five of the books mentioned in the German article) had an impact on my life. And then of course I’ve read all the books by Alexandra David-Neel, who also mentioned the Kumbum. The Institute of Ethnology at the Cologne University, where I’ve studied ethnology / social anthropology, had all the old books on Tibet in its library; I still recall, where these books were back then (1975), as I had to climb a ladder.

But Filchner explored the Kumbum Dschamba Ling in the province of Qinghai (青海), whereas I want to talk about the Kumbum of Palcho Monastery at Gyantse. The Kumbum has nine floors and each there are 76 chapels, it forms a three-dimensional mandala. The Kumbum is 32 m high and has 108 gates, which I didn’t count. As there were repair works under way and some doors were left open by the workers, I could climb the stairs much higher than is usually allowed. I had visited the Kumbum in 1998 and even then I didn’t get as far as this time. The original building had been constructed from 1427 to 1437.

The small rooms, much like caves, get their light mostly through the opened doors. Some contain statues, other more wall paintings. Every little cave is a new adventure. And some have a low beam, so that you can bump your head easily.