Three Structural Units

The Tabo Main Temple (Tsuklak Khang གཙུག་ལག་ཁང་) is called Penden Tashi Déné (དཔལ་ལྡན་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་གནས་) in the renovation inscription of 1042 CE. The temple has three structural units, all of them going back to the foundation in the late tenth century. The small Entry Hall in the east is followed by a spacious Assembly Hall and a Cella surrounded by an Ambulatory (see the plan). In front of the entrance to the old structure an additional entry room has been erected in relatively recent times.

The Entry Hall (Gokhang སྒོ་ཁང་) is dedicated to introductory themes. The Assembly Hall (Dukhang འདུ་ཁང་) features a sculptural Vajradhātu mandala assembly, a painted Dharmadhātu mandala assembly intertwined with it, the Buddhas of the ten directions, two narrative cycles in a clockwise arrangement and a large fragmentary donor depiction. The Cella (Dritsangkhang དྲི་གཙང་ཁང་) in the back of the temple contains a three family configuration of sculptures dating to the foundation of the monument. It is surrounded by an Ambulatory (Korlam སྐོར་ལམ་) filled with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Each of these spaces is introduced in greater detail on a separate page and references to specialised literature are found there.

As attested by an inscribed depiction on the south wall of the Entry Hall, the Tabo Main Temple was founded by king Yéshé Ö (ཡེ་ཤེས་འོད་). An inscription to one side of the Cella, known as the Renovation Inscription (edited and translated in Steinkellner & Luczanits 1999), records that the temple was founded in a monkey year and renovated 46 years later by the great-nephew of Yéshé Ö, Jangchup Ö (བྱང་ཆུབ་འོད་), who is probably the figure represented in the centre above the inscription. As first suggested by Klimburg-Salter, these dates most likely correspond to 996 and 1042 respectively.

Owing to its generally good state of preservation the Tabo Main Temple today constitutes the most important source of knowledge of early western Himalayan art during the Purang-Guge kingdom. The Tabo Main Temple is remarkable for its clay sculptures (◊ Cella and ◊ Mandala Sculptures), its narrative art, the painted textiles on the ceiling, the textile and costume depictions in the murals, and its 'library', a collection of 40.000 pages of scattered manuscripts of which the majority is older than the formation of the Tibetan canon.

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The quotation below is from the renovation inscription.