|  Rumtek
Monastery
The monastery is situated at a distance of
24 kilometers from Gangtok and it takes about 45 minutes drive.
This is the second most important monastery in the world (the
most famous one is the original Kagyu headquarters situated
in Tibet). The monastery is the seat of the Karmapa Lama, the
head of one of the main four branches Tibetan Buddhist Sects.
There is a huge collection of rare religious scripts and objects
in the monastery.
 The
new structure of the monastery was built in 1960. A thirty-minute
downhill walk from the new building will take you to the older
monastery that was built in 1730 and was destroyed in a fire.
In the existing monastery there is a stupa of the XVI Gyalwa
Karmapa, which is inlaid with gold plates and precious stones.
Each year before Losar- the Tibetan New Year-
in the Month of February a celebratory dance called Chaam is
organized in the Monastery premises. |
