| Shey Palace and Monastery | |
|---|---|
 Shey Palace | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Tibetan Buddhism |
| Location | |
| Location | Shey, Leh district, Ladakh, India |
  Shown within Ladakh  Shey Monastery (India) | |
| Geographic coordinates | 34°04′18″N 77°37′58″E / 34.07167°N 77.63278°E |
| Architecture | |
| Founder | Deldan Namgyal |
| Shey Monastery is within the Shey Palace complex. | |
Shey Monastery or Gompa or the Shey Palace are complex structures located on a hillock in Shey, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) to the south of Leh in Ladakh, northern India on the Leh-Manali road. Shey was the summer capital of Ladakh in the past. It contains a huge Shakyamuni Buddha statue. It is the second largest Buddha statue in Ladakh.[1][2]
The original palace, now in ruins, was built near the Shey village by Lhachen Palgyigon, the king of Ladakh (then called Maryul), in the 10th century.[3] The Moghul noble Mirza Haidar Dughlat stayed here during his invasion of Ladakh in the 16th century.[4]
The current Shey Palace and Monastery were also built in 1655 on the instructions of Deldan Namgyal, in the memory of his late father, Sengge Namgyal, below the first palace.[5] The monastery is noted for its giant copper with gilded gold statue of a seated Shakyamuni Buddha. The statue is so named since Buddha was the sage (muni) of the Sakya people who resided in the Himalayan foothills and their capital was Kapilvastu. It is said to be the second largest such statue in Ladakh.[1][6][7]
- ^ a b "Shey Gompa". Buddhist-temples.com. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
- ^ Bindloss, Joe; Sarina Singh (2007). India. Lonely Planet. p. 381. ISBN 9781741043082. Retrieved 30 November 2009.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Dorjay, Embedded in Stone (2014), p. 53.
- ^ Howard & Howard, Historic Ruins in the Gya Valley (2014), p. 88.
- ^ Kaul, Rediscovery of Ladakh (1998), p. 62.
- ^ "Leh in repose". Retrieved 30 November 2009.
- ^ "Shey Gompa". Retrieved 30 November 2009.