Tibet Gardens
Linkha
Linkha means garden in Tibet. Actually it bears a wider implication meaning a large area of forest. The Tibetans have a special affection towards nature, when summer comes, all the family will go out and choose to remain in a Linkha. During their stay in Linkha, not only will they take a rest from the routines but also will sing and dance even hold a feast to please themselves. For some others, they are fond of go camping and stay several days in Linkha. The upper classes like aristocrats, higher officials, monasteries etc. had their own man-made Linkhas. Nowadays there remains more than fifty Linkhas in Lhasa with a total coverage of 7800 square meters. Some well known Linkhas are: Gamuxia Linkha, Nixue Linkha, Xide Linkha, Dragon King Pool ( a Linkha in the Potala palace ) and Yaoxi Linkha. The summer palace in the palace of Gali king of Shannan is a Linkha of a large area. The Linkha in the Langselin manor features with its rare plants and flowers, in which pear trees, apple trees, walnut trees and pomegranate trees grow as well as Chinese flowering crabapple, Chinese herbaceous peony and rose that are rarely seen on the Plateau. In summer the garden will show its luxuriance and dazzling beauty. Zejue Linkha was the summer palace of living buddhas in the Zejue Monastery. This Linkha is also full of rare flowers and plants. Yaoxi Linkha had been the house of fourteenth Dalai Lama, inside his garden grows a large amount of poplar and acanthaceous indigoes that make the garden quite famous. While, among all the Linkhas, Norbuglinkha is the most distinctive and most well known one.
Norbuglinkha ---- the summer residential palace of Dalai Lama
Norbuglinkha, usually viewed as Tibet’s summer palace, has always been a summer resort for Dalai Lamas. Norbuglinkha was built in 1740s during the reign of the seventh Dalai Lama. Later if became Dalai Lama’s summer palace. It was here that the Dalai Lama used to handle political affairs, hold festival celebrations and religious activities. Also they spent their summers here from April to October each year.
The whole garden covers an area of 360,000 square meters, with more than 370 rooms of different sizes. It has been called “the treasure garden” in the Tibet language. Norbuglinkha consists of three parts: the palace district, district in front of the palace and forest district. Forest occupies the western part of the garden. In the eastern part is the palace district, the palace has three stories with stone walls and glided roofs. The first story is a Buddhist scripture hall with a yard of 600 square meters in front of it. The second story is made up of arahat hall, and a room where Dalai Lamas read Buddhist scriptures. The third story is a hall where Dalai Lamas granted interviews to monks and secular officials.
Now Norbuglinkha is divided into several parts so as to form different landscapes according to trees, flowers and buildings inside. There are more than one hundred rare plants and flowers growing here and there were more than three hundred in its prime. In addition, there are diverse rare species of animals living here. Norbuglinkha is reputed for a perfect combination of natural beauty and unique Tibetan culture. It has become a place not only for worshiping and relaxation but also an ideal place for the study of Tibetan palatial architecture.