At the centre of this great complex was the temple of Yeshe-O: a three-dimensional mandala with a central hall and eighteen subsidiary chapels, which made this one of the most splendid buildings in Asia. It was a memory room of Tibetan culture; a labyrinth full of magnificent bronzes, giant painted and gilded Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and a great cycle of medieval wall paintings by travelling Kashmiri masters; in sum, a literal representation of the Tibetan world of the spirits. All of it was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution save for two chapels, later used as grain stores, which preserve
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The cultural vandalism is horrendous. But so it is with all colonial powers.
