Sakya North monastery

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Sakya North monastery, on the north bank of Trum river, was founded in 1073 by Kong Chögyal Pho. The monastery was a multifunctional complex consisting of chapels, aristocratic and common dwellings, administrative buildings and defensive structures. According to the Sakya tradition, there were 108 chapels in the complex, four major temples, eight minor temples, four pricipal labrangs and numerous other buildings. It is estimated that there were once about 3000 monks here (before 1950 there were a mere 200 left). Sakya North monastery was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.
Sakya South monastery (founded in 1268 by Phagpa - completed in 1276) survived the Cultural Revolution. Before 1950 still 300 monks lived in the southern complex.