In 1530 the second Dalai Lama established the Ganden Palace, the palace that was home to the Dalai Lamas until the fifth built the Potala. It was from here that the early Dalai Lamas exercised their political as well as religious control over central Tibet, and the second, third and fourth Dalai Lamas are all entombed here.
To reach the palace from the monastery's car park, pass the woodblock and juniper stalls and follow the kora clockwise around the outside of the monastery until you reach the steps.
The first hall on the left is the Sanga Tratsang , a recently renovated chapel housing statues of the protectors Namtöse (Vaishravana), Nagpo Chenpo (Mahakala), Dorje Jigje (Vajra Bhairavo), Chögyel (Dharmaraja), Palden Lhamo (Shri Devi; on a horse) and Dorje Drakden (the Nechung oracle), all arranged around a central statue of the fifth Dalai Lama.
Head up the stairs and then across the main courtyard, where performances of cham (a ritual dance) are traditionally performed during the Shötun festival. Tibetan pilgrims stop to buy amulets and traditional sacred threads here. The upper floor of the main building has three chapels that make up the apartments of the early Dalai Lamas. The second of the three chapels, to the right, is an audience room with wonderfully detailed murals and the throne of the fifth Dalai Lama, next to a thousand-armed statue of Chenresig. The third is a simple living room.
From here descend and cross over to a final chapel whose entrance is defaced by a Cultural Revolution–era political slogan (Mao’s image was only recently removed). Signs lead past a refreshment stand and a corner rock shrine to Drölma to the exit to the north.
