Dzongs

Dzong architecture is a distinctive type of fortress (Wylie: rdzong, IPA: [tz^ɦoŋ˩˨]) architecture found mainly in Bhutan and the former Tibet. The architecture is massive in style with towering exterior walls surrounding a complex of courtyards, temples, administrative offices, and monks' accommodation.

Distinctive features include:

Dzongs serve as the religious, military, administrative, and social centers of their district. They are often the site of an annual tsechu or religious festival.

The rooms inside the dzong are typically allocated half to administrative function (such as the office of the penlop or governor), and half to religious function, primarily the temple and housing for monks. This division between administrative and religious functions reflects the idealized duality of power between the religious and administrative branches of government.

Tibet used to be divided into 53 prefecture districts also called dzongs. There were two dzongpöns for each dzong, a lama and a layman. They were entrusted with both civil and military powers and are equal in all respects, though subordinate to the generals and the Chinese amban in military matters, until the expulsion of the ambans following the Xinhai Revolution in 1912. Today, 71 counties in the Tibet Autonomous Region are called dzongs in the Tibetic languages.

Bhutanese dzong architecture reached its zenith in the 17th century under the leadership of Ngawang Namgyal, the 1st Zhabdrung Rinpoche. The Zhabdrung relied on visions and omens to site each of the dzongs. Modern military strategists would observe that the dzongs are well-sited with regard to their function as defensive fortresses. Wangdue Phodrang dzong, for instance, is set upon a spur overlooking the confluence of the Sankosh (Puna Tsang) and Tang Rivers, thus blocking any attacks by southern invaders who attempted to use a river route to bypass the trackless slopes of the middle Himalayas in attacking central Bhutan. Drukgyel Dzong at the head of the Paro valley guards the traditional Tibetan invasion path over the passes of the high Himalayas.

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