Ganden Monastery stands on Wangbur Mountain about 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Lhasa, at roughly 14,100 feet (4,300 m). Je Tsongkhapa founded it in 1409 and died there in 1419. It is one of the three great Gelug university monasteries, with Sera and Drepung. The main assembly hall is white with gold-capped roofs, and the largest chapel could seat 3,500 monks. At one time it supported over 5,000.
The article says the People's Liberation Army destroyed it in 1959 and that Red Guard artillery shelled it in 1966. During the Cultural Revolution the remaining buildings were reduced to rubble with dynamite. Tsongkhapa's body was mostly burned, though his skull and some ashes were saved.
Rebuilding has continued since the 1980s. About 400 monks lived there in 2012, and a guesthouse takes visitors.
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