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Getting there
Metro (Recommended): Take Subway Line 2 or Line 5 to Yonghegong Station (Exit C or F).
Bus: Routes 13, 84, 116, 117 get off at Yonghegong Station.
Self-driving: Not recommended – traffic is heavy and parking is very limited near the temple.

In the northeast corner of Beijing, beyond the gray-toned hutongs and beneath the shade of ancient locust trees, a stretch of yellow glazed tiles and crimson walls rises with imperial grandeur. This is the Lama Temple — the most prestigious Tibetan Buddhist monastery in China, and a place where the fortunes of emperors and the whispers of prayer have intertwined for over three centuries.

Its storey begins in 1694, when the Kangxi Emperor bestowed this piece of land upon his fourth son, Prince Yong — the future Yongzheng Emperor — and named it the Yongzheng Prince Mansion. In 1725, after ascending the throne, Yongzheng converted the mansion into an imperial palace and gave it its current name — the “Palace of Peace and Harmony”. When he passed away a decade later, his coffin was temporarily housed here, and the green琉璃瓦 (glazed tiles) that adorned the main halls were replaced with imperial yellow. Adding to its royal mystique, the Qianlong Emperor, Yongzheng's son, was also born within these walls. This gave the temple the legendary status of a “dragon's hidden dwelling” — a place that nurtured not one, but two emperors.

In 1744, the Qianlong Emperor converted the palace into a lamasery for the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, transforming it into the administrative centre for Tibetan Buddhist affairs in the Qing Empire. This was no ordinary temple — it was a political and spiritual bridge between the imperial court and the Mongolian and Tibetan regions.

But it is the treasures within that truly leave visitors in awe. The Lama Temple is home to the “Three Masterpieces of Wood Carving”: the 18-meter-tall Maitreya Buddha carved from a single white sandalwood tree — a Guinness World Record holder and the temple's undisputed crown jewel; the intricate Arhat Mountain with its 500 arhats carved from purple sandalwood; and a magnificent Nanmu Buddha niche adorned with 99 vividly carved dragons. In the Hall of the Wheel of the Law, a 6.1-meter bronze statue of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug school, sits with a subtle smile, his face considered one of the most lifelike depictions in all of Buddhist art.

Whether you come for the history, the art, or to light incense and offer a prayer, the Lama Temple is a journey into the spiritual and imperial heart of old Beijing.