Often isolated, rising from the floor of a valley or suspended against a cliff face, the temples and monasteries of Bhutan have played an important role in the country's history. Over the centuries, saints and lamas have supervised their construction. Like their Tibetan counterparts, the temples are called lha-khang (home of the gods) and the monasteries gom-pa (solitary place). The religious buildings are always devoted to prayer and meditation. However, while a temple will house only a few monks who are responsible for its maintenance and upkeep, the monasteries can house a large community with often more than 100 monks. The monasteries are primarily places of study, with the teaching and training of novices forming an important part of their work.

Around any religious building is a profusion of prayer flags, chortens and mani walls. A paved pathway usually surrounds the building, so that the monks and pilgrims can walk round it and turn the prayer wheels fixed in the walls.

These holy places are built in the same way as all the other buildings in Bhutan, that is to say from stone or rammed mud, with half-timbering and shingle roofs. Inside, however, they are very different from domestic houses. They are richly decorated with vividly coloured designs and symbols. The walls painted with images of the many divinities in the Buddhist pantheon, plus those of saints and lamas who helped to spread the doctrine of the Enlightened One. Inside the monasteries, the chapels may be lhakhangs, which are dedicated to the protective spirits, often portrayed in their most fearsome and angry forms. These esoteric images sometimes surprise the visitor, but they must be seen essentially at two different levels. First of all, they represent the defenders of religion and destroy its enemies in the world around us. But at the inner level, these enemies live inside men's hearts. They are desire, anger and ignorance, symbolised by the cockerel, snake and pig at the centre of the Wheel of Life. The origin of the gonkhang derives from a combination of Mahayana tantric Buddhism and older beliefs that existed in the Himalayas prior to its arrival. Also to be found inside the monasteries are dukhangs, large rooms devoted to communal ceremonies and shared meals.

Certain Bhutanese temples have a very unusual shape. This is the case of Dungtse Lhakhang in the Paro valley, which looks like a chorten. Dating from about 1433, it was built around a central axis and in the spirit of the mandala. Its foundation is attributed to Thangtong Gyelpo, the famous chain-bridge builder.

The fittings and decoration of all these buildings are particularly rich: the builders and craftsmen displayed great ingenuity and virtuosity in using their skills. However, although the founders of dzongs and monasteries are generally remembered, there is no record of the architects, workmen and artists who helped to build them. Artistic creation is not a form of personal expression in Bhutan, but the reflection of a shared state of mind. Through an act of faith, each individual gives of his best for the common good. And so all these buildings are a living testimony to the talents of countless masons, carpenters, joiners, painters, sculptors and blacksmiths stretching back over the centuries.

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