Shelkar
title: "Shelkar" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-in-shigatse", "township-level-divisions-of-tibet", "buddhist-monasteries-in-tibet", "buddhist-temples-in-tibet", "1266-establishments-in-asia", "tingri-county"] topic_path: "society/religion" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelkar" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Shelkar |
| official_name | Xêgar |
| 协格尔 | |
| other_name | New Tingri / Shegar / Shekar |
| native_name | ཤེལ་དཀར་ |
| settlement_type | Town |
| image_skyline | Shelkar-20-Stadt-2014-gje.jpg |
| image_caption | View of Shelkar in 2014 |
| pushpin_map | China Tibet |
| subdivision_type | Country |
| subdivision_name | China |
| subdivision_type1 | Province |
| subdivision_name1 | Tibet Autonomous Region |
| subdivision_type2 | Prefecture |
| subdivision_name2 | Shigatse Prefecture |
| subdivision_type3 | County |
| subdivision_name3 | Tingri County |
| population_as_of | 2010 |
| population_total | 9528 |
| timezone | CST |
| utc_offset | +8 |
| coordinates | |
| elevation_m | 4330 |
| :: |
| name = Shelkar | official_name = Xêgar 协格尔 | other_name = New Tingri / Shegar / Shekar | native_name = ཤེལ་དཀར་ | translit_lang1 = | translit_lang1_type = | translit_lang1_info = | translit_lang1_type1 = | translit_lang2 = | translit_lang2_type = | translit_lang2_info = | translit_lang2_type1 = | translit_lang2_info1 = | translit_lang2_type2 = | translit_lang2_info2 = | settlement_type = Town | image_skyline = Shelkar-20-Stadt-2014-gje.jpg | image_size = | image_caption = View of Shelkar in 2014 | image_flag = | image_seal = | pushpin_map = China Tibet | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = China | subdivision_type1 = Province | subdivision_name1 = Tibet Autonomous Region | subdivision_type2 = Prefecture | subdivision_name2 = Shigatse Prefecture | subdivision_type3 = County | subdivision_name3 = Tingri County | leader_title = | leader_name = | established_title = | established_date = | area_magnitude = | area_total_km2 = | area_land_km2 = | area_water_km2 = | population_as_of = 2010 | population_note = | population_total = 9528 | population_metro = | population_density_km2 = | timezone = CST | utc_offset = +8 | timezone_DST = | utc_offset_DST = | coordinates = | elevation_m = 4330 | postal_code = | area_code = | blank_name = | blank_info = | website = | footnotes = ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Shekar_Dzong,Shekar_Monastery_and_Shekar(village)_in_1921.jpg" caption="Longman & Green]], page 67"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Shekar-dzong-1933.jpg!PinterestLarge.jpg" caption="quote=(Caption for two photos- one "before" and "after" destruction. The "before" photo is shown on this page, while the 1980 "after" photo is not available)- "Casualty of Violence, the great Tibetan monastery at Xegar photographed (right) by a British group on a 1922 reconnaissance of Mount Everest, appears as a magnificent cliffside sanctuary guarded by a walled fortress on the slopes above. Xegar, whose name means "shining crystal" in Tibetan, then housed 400 monks and served as a center of Buddhist teaching and influence. The lower photograph, taken by author Andrew Harvard in 1980, shows the devastation of both fortress and monastery, with nothing remaining of Xegar but the small village at the base of the mountain. Although local residents were reluctant to discuss Xegar's fate, other sources have indicated that the monastery was destroyed by Chinese Communist forces during the Tibetan rebellion of 1959..."}}"] ::
Shelkar or Shekar (Tibetan: ཤེལ་དཀར་, "white crystal"; ), also called New Tingri, is a town in, and the administrative centre for, Tingri County, Shigatse in southern Tibet Autonomous Region. The town has a population of 9,528, per the 2010 Chinese census.
History
The early British expeditions to Mount Everest in 1921, 1922 and 1924 all stopped at Shelkar Dzong on their way from Darjeeling to the northern side of Everest.
Geography
The town lies 7 km off the Friendship Highway between Lhatse and Tingri, at an altitude of about 4,300 m, at the southern foot of 5,260 m high Gyatso La. It is approximately 60 km north-west of Mount Everest and just over 50 km from the Nepali border in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
Landmarks
Shelkar is famous for the Shelkar Chode Monastery, a Gelug monastery which was completely destroyed but is being restored. Despite being founded in 1266 by a Kagyu lama, it has been a Gelugpa monastery since the 17th century, and formerly had some 400 monks. Although, destroyed by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, the assembly hall has been rebuilt, and there is an active branch monastery in Boudhanath, Nepal.
Shelkar-Kloster-02-Portal-2014-gje.jpg| Shelkar-Kloster-10-Klosterplan-2014-gje.jpg| Shelkar-Kloster-14-Dukhang-2014-gje.jpg| Shelkar-Kloster-32-Lhakhang-Schreine-Butterlichter-2014-gje.jpg| Shelkar-Kloster-24-Lhakhang-2014-gje.jpg| Shelkar-Kloster-40-Schutzgottheit-2014-gje.jpg|
The old Shekar Dorje dzong, or fort, is above the new town and used to enclose Shekar Chode. The ruins of the old Dzong are located on the hill behind the monastery.
Demographics
The town has a population of 9,528, per the 2010 Chinese census, up from the 8,767 recorded in the 2000 Chinese Census.
Footnotes
References
- {{cite book | last = Dorje | first = Gyurme | year = 1999 | title = Footprint Tibet Handbook with Bhutan | edition = 2nd | publisher = Footprint Handbooks | location = Bath, England | isbn = 1-900949-33-4
- {{cite book | last = Dowman | first = Keith | year = 1998 | title = The Power-Places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide | publisher = Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd | location = London | isbn = 0-7102-1370-0
- {{cite journal | last = Strachey | first = Henry | author-link = Henry Strachey (explorer) | year = 1854 | title = Physical Geography of Western Tibet | journal = Journal of the Royal Geographical Society | issn = 0266-6235 | volume = XXIII | pages = 1–69, plus map
References
- Harvard, Andrew. (July 1984). "The Forgotten Face of Everest". National Geographic Society.
- (1923). "The assault on Mount Everest, 1922". Longmans, Green.
- "". link
- (2016-02-24). "". link
- 3767054,
- Anderson, Ken [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/kenanderson/adventure/page3.html "George Mallory to Sherpa Tenzing - Conquering Mighty Everest"], accessed 23 August 2010
- (2016-02-24). "". link
- "Shelkar".
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