Drepung Monastery

Drepung Monastery, situated at the foot of Mount Gephel, is one of the "colossal three" Gelug college gompas of Tibet. Situated at the foot of the Mountain Gambo Utse, 5 kilometers 3.1 miles from the western suburb of Lhasa, the Drepung Monastery is known as the most imperative religious community of Gelugpa in Tibetan Buddhism.

It is viewed as one of the 'Three Great Monasteries' the other two are the Ganden Monastery and the Sera Monastery. Covering a region of 250,000 square meters 299,007 square yards, it held 7,700 priests altogether and had 141 fazendas and 540 fields in its prime, and is the biggest scale cloister among the ones of a similar kind. Seen from far off, its terrific, white development gives the presence of a store of rice. In that capacity, it was given the name 'Drepung', which, in the Tibetan dialect, signifies 'Gathering Rice.