The Ganden Monastery is one of the great three Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet (the other two being Drepung and Sera). It lies at 4500 metres a.s.l. on the Wangbur Mountain, 47 km east of Lhasa. Being the furthest away from Lhasa of the three Gelupka monasteries, Ganden has a smaller monk population. However, it was the original monastery of the Geluk order, founded by Tsongkhapa himself, and traditionally considered to be the seat of Geluk administrative and political power. Before 1950, Ganden had around 5000 monks. Today it has around 500 monks. During the Cultural Revolution the monastery was completely destroyed. It was rebuilt in the early 1980's. Ganden is well known for its kora. The kora (pilgrim trail around the monastery) gives you an awesome view of the Lhasa river valley from 4500m
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