Thangka wall

A thangka wall is, in Tibetan religious architecture, a stone-built structure used for hanging giant, or monumental, appliqued thangkas, or scrolls, in some of the major Buddhist monasteries of Tibet. These giant thangkas are called gos ku, goku, gheku, kiku (cloth image) in Tibetan, and thongdrel in Bhutan. The thangka wall stands on a hillside from where it overlooks the monastic settlement. Its form is that of a narrow, elongated and tall rectangular building with a battered façade and a flat roof surrounded by a parapet. The side and rear walls are normally vertical.

Thangkas are only displayed hung on the walls on special occasions such as major festivals, when they are or were unrolled by monks at the top of the wall, with considerable ceremony. Tibetan Buddhists believe that viewing the thangka with the proper spirit brings great spiritual benefits. Often the thangka was only displayed on one day in the year.

Smaller monasteries that lack a special thangka wall, like those in Bhutan, may hang their large thangkas from the other monastery buildings, often in the main courtyard. This was presumably the practice everywhere before the emergence of special thangka walls. The creation of silk appliqué thangkas appears to have begun in China, perhaps in the 14th century, using existing Chinese textile techniques to copy painted Tibetan thangkas. These reached Tibet, where they were well received, and the Tibetans, also already used to silk appliqué for decorating tents and clothes, began to make their own. Initially these were relatively small, for hanging inside prayer-halls, but by at least the 15th century some were being made large enough that large outside locations were needed to display them.