Gyantse is the fourth largest city in Tibet and notable for its magnificent tiered Kumbum (a multi-storied aggregate of Buddhist chapels). The Kumbum was commissioned by a Gyantse prince in 1427 and was an important centre of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. This religious structure contains 77 chapels in its six floors, and is illustrated with over 10,000 murals. The town was nearly destroyed in 1954 and was largely emptied of people by the Chinese in 1959. During the Cultural Revolution the monastery and Kumbum were ransacked or destroyed.
