Tibet Tombs
Tombs in Tibet can be divided into two groups: funeral park of Tubo kings and burial towers of great monks in masteries.
Funeral park of Tubo kings, also called Tibetan king’s mausoleum, was located on Mure mountain at the southern bank of the Yarlung River( today under the jurisdiction of Qiongjie county).The Tubo king’s funeral park has tomb groups of Tibetan kings, princes, and concubines of Tibet regime through the seventh to ninth centuries in Tibet. After over a thousand years of wind and weather, nine recognizable mausoleums remain. The tomb of Songtsen Gampo was situated at the lowest part of the funeral park, next to the Yarlung Tsangbo River. According to historical documents, the interior had nine chambers, the central one storing the body of Songtsen Gampo, whose body was applied fully with gold, and there was five Buddhist halls inlaid with gold, silver and all kinds of jewelry.
In front of the Chide Songzan’s (the fifth king of Tubo) tomb is a tablet with carved jewelry on top and carved designs of floating clouds. On four corners are four flying celestials in relief, stripped to waist and graceful amid colorful fluttering ribbons, while dancing dragons with floating clouds on the shaft sides were carved skillfully and decisively. Just before another bomb stands a pair of stone lions, they are each 1.5 meters high, both carved boldly and unrestrainedly in the early style of stone carving.
Tower burial is popular among monasteries and all Buddhism sects. After the death of Dharma-raja, Hutuketu， Living Buddhas and eminent monks, their bodies will be preserved with spice and enshrined in a tower for worship, or a tower will be built to hold their bone ash for people’s visit and worship. The most representative burial tower is the one that settles 5th Dalai Lama’s remains. The spiritual tower is built in the Red Palace of Potala Palace in 1690. It is composed of three parts: tower seat, tower bottle and tower…. With a height of 14.85 meters, the inside is a wooden framework, while the outside is enclosed with gold foil at a cost of more than 1,000 kilogram gold. The tower is decorated with all kinds of jewelry impressively and grandly. The tower is considered to be one of the best decorations in the world, also the sole solemnity among the Buddhist.