Subscribe to free Email Newsletter

Tibetan kings' tombs were located at the foot of Mure Mountain opposite to Qiongjie County of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Here stands nine high and wide graves, their shape similar to massifs. In 1959, the Tibetan cultural relics research group organized by the Cultural Relics Bureau of the Ministry of Culture made researches into the tombs, and proved that they were the tombs of Zanpu (Tibetan King) in the 7 - 9th centuries of Tubo (today's Tibet).

The shape and structure of the tombs are the same in general: they have square flat roofs, but are different in size, and are 10-30 m in height. The upper layer is an earth rampart made of earth and stones, and on each side there are small tabernacles that are arranged in order, small pottery towers and all kinds of pottery joss are placed in the tabernacles. Below the earth rampart there is a rectangular earth estrade, on either side of which there is a delicately carved stone lion of 1.55 meters high. A monument stands in front of Songtsan Gambo's tomb; it is wide in the upper part and narrow in the lower part, has the shape of a square pole, and has a lid seemingly made of stone beads on the top. The lid is carved with patterns of flowing clouds and flying Asparas in the clouds. The craftsmanship is very fine and smooth, and figures in the carving look elegant. Patterns of dragons are carved on the sides of the monument, and the epigraph on the front side of the monument pays a tribute to the achievements and virtues of Khri Ide srong btsan.

Furthermore, a small-sized ancestral temple is on the top of a tomb, the main hall of the temple houses the statues of Tubo's king Songtsan Gambo, princess Wencheng and princess Ni Poluo. The west side of the temple's door has a record of events written in the Tibetan letters with Chinese ink. It records the directions and positions of all the tombs of Tubo's kings. The tombs may be the co-buried tombs of Songtsan Gambo, princess Wencheng and princess Ni Poluo. Except the above two tombs' owners can be identified, the other seven tombs' owners have not been confirmed. The choice and layout of the terrain of Tibetan kings' tombs was the same as that of the mausoleum system in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It can illustrate the large-scale adoption of the Han culture by the Tubo ethnic group at that time.