Tsaparang, Guge Kingdom's Citadel
Image details
Contributor:
François-Olivier Dommergues / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
EHAEGMFile size:
34.9 MB (1.6 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
2848 x 4288 px | 24.1 x 36.3 cm | 9.5 x 14.3 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
August 2010Location:
Tibet, ChinaMore information:
In the summer of 1624 two Portuguese Jesuit priests, António de Andrade and Manuel Marques, came to the region looking for the fabled Christian king known as Prester John. They gained permission from the king of Guge to preach throughout the kingdom. They returned to Tsaparang the next summer and built a church at the foot of the citadel and another one at Rudok 130 miles away. António de Andrade left Tibet in 1630 and the mission quickly fell into disarray. In 1640 Manuel Marques led an expedition back in an attempt to reestablish the mission but he was captured and the rest of his party fled. He wrote a pitiful letter to the Jesuit headquarters at Agra in India begging to be rescued, but was never heard from again. In 1685 Tsaparang was besieged and conquered by Muslim mercenaries hired by the Buddhist king of Ladakh. In spite of massive damage then, and the destruction of most of the statues and murals in both chapels by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, some frescoes have somehow survived.