Buddhism was first actively disseminated in Tibet from the 6-9th century CE, predominantly from India. During the Era of Fragmentation (9-10th centuries), Buddhism waned in Tibet, only to rise again in the 11th century. With the Mongol invasion of Tibet in the 13th century and the establishment of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, Tibetan Buddhism spread beyond Tibet to Mongolia and China.

Founded around 779 C.E., Samye was Tibet’s first Monastery. Although a few temples of worship had been built earlier in Tibet, Samye was the first fully functioning Monastery. Upon its completion, the first 7 Tibetan Buddhist monks were ordained by Śāntarakṣita (725–788), the famous abbot of the Indian monastery Vikramaśīla. Samye played a central role in Trisong Detsen’s lifelong project to make Buddhism the state

The Potala palace, one of Tibet’s largest and best known landmarks, is an enormous fortress-like structure located in the Tibetan capital Lhasa. The Potala served as the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas and as the locus of the Tibetan government from the 17th century to the 14th Dalai Lama’s flight from Tibet in 1959. The name refers to Mount Potalaka in India, which is