Gyantse Dzong or Gyantse Fortress is one of the best preserved dzongs

Dzong architecture

Dzong architecture is a distinctive type of fortress architecture found in the present and former Buddhist kingdoms of the Himalayas: Bhutan and Tibet...

 in Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

, perched high above the town of Gyantse

Gyantse

Gyantse is a town located in Gyangzê County, Shigatse Prefecture. It was historically considered the third largest and most prominent town in the Tibet region , but there are now at least ten larger Tibetan cities.-Location:The town is strategically located in the Nyang River Valley on the ancient...

 on a huge spur of grey brown rock.

According to Vitali, the fortress was constructed in 1390 and guarded the southern approaches to the Tsangpo

Yarlung Zangbo River

Yarlung River is a watercourse that originates upstream from the South Tibet Valley and Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, in Tibet. It then passes through the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India, where it is known as the Dihang....

 Valley and Lhasa. The town was surrounded by a wall 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) long. The entrance is on the eastern side.

Early history

The original fortress, known as Gyel-khar-tse was attributed to Pelkhor-tsen, son of the anti-Buddhist king Langdharma, who probably reigned from 838 to 841 CE. The present walls were supposedly built in 1268, after the rise in power of the Sakyapa sect.

A large palace was built in 1365 by a local prince, Phakpa Pelzangpo (1318–1370), who had found favour campaigning for the Sakyapas in the south. He also brought a famous Buddhist teacher, Buton Rinchendrub of Zhalu, to live in a temple there.

Later in the 14th century Phakpa Pelzangpo's son, Kungpa Phakpa (1357–1412), expanded the Gyantse complex and moved the royal residence here from the palace and fort his father had built at the entrance to the Gyantse valley. He also built Samphel Rinchenling, the first hilltop temple, beside the castle. Although the walls are mostly ruined, they still contain some 14th-century murals in Newari style as well as in the Gyantse style which grew from it.

British invasion, 1903–1904

Gyantse is often referred to by the Chinese as the "Hero City" because of the determined resistance of the Tibetans against far superior forces during the British expedition to Tibet

British expedition to Tibet

The British expedition to Tibet during 1903 and 1904 was an invasion of Tibet by British Indian forces, whose mission was to establish diplomatic relations and trade between the British Raj and Tibet...

 of 1903 and 1904.

There was a slow but bloody advance from Sikkim

Sikkim

Sikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayan mountains...

 and a massacre of several hundred Tibetan troops equipped with antiquated "matchlock

Matchlock

The matchlock was the first mechanism, or "lock" invented to facilitate the firing of a hand-held firearm. This design removed the need to lower by hand a lit match into the weapon's flash pan and made it possible to have both hands free to keep a firm grip on the weapon at the moment of firing,...

 guns, swords, spears and slingshots" at the crude fortifications they had built below the village of Guru and at nearby Chumik Shenko (or Chumi Shengo), with the Tibetans facing far more deadly weapons including Maxim

Maxim gun

The Maxim gun was the first self-powered machine gun, invented by the American-born British inventor Sir Hiram Maxim in 1884. It has been called "the weapon most associated with [British] imperial conquest".-Functionality:...

 machine guns and ten-pound cannon

English cannon

The first recorded usage of cannon in Great Britain was in 1327, when they were used in battle by the English against the Scots. Under the Tudors, the first forts featuring cannon batteries were built, while cannon were first used by the Tudor navy...

 for the first time. The British then pushed on to Gyantse which they reached after a couple more unequal skirmishes, on 12 April 1904.

As most of the defenders had fled, the British took the Dzong, raised the Union Jack, but considering it difficult to defend, they retired to an aristocrat's compound about a mile south near the Nyang River

Nyang River

The Nyang River is a major river in south-west Tibet and the longest tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo river....

 at Changlo. About a week later General Macdonald

James Macdonald (engineer)

James Ronald Leslie Macdonald was a Scottish engineer, explorer and cartographer. He served as a British Army engineer, rose to the rank of Brigadier-General and was knighted...

 withdrew down the Chumbi Valley

Chumbi Valley

Chumbi Valley is a valley in Tibet at the intersection of India , Bhutan and China in the Himalayas. Two main passes between India and China open up here: the Nathu La Pass and Jelep La Pass....

 to secure supply lines, leaving Younghusband

Francis Younghusband

Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, KCSI, KCIE was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer...

 with about 500 men who began pillaging neighbouring monasteries and villages.

Before dawn on 5 May hundreds of Tibetans attacked the camp at Changlo and, for a while, held the advantage before being overcome by the superior weapons and losing at least 200 men. On 7 May a small detachment of infantry arrived from General Macdonald who had been ambushed by the Tibetans at the Karo Pass, nearly 80 kilometres (49.7 mi) east of Gyantse, where four of their men had been killed and thirteen badly wounded.

A few days later the camp at Changlo came under siege as the Tibetan "troops had gained control of surrounding villages, and taken to firing miniature lead and copper cannon-balls into the camp from Gyantse Dzong.". There were even rumours that the Khory Buryat

Buryats

The Buryats or Buriyads , numbering approximately 436,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia...

 Gelug priest Agvan Drive, born not far from Ulan-Ude

Ulan-Ude

Ulan-Ude is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence with the Selenga...

, east of Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...

, then under Russian control, was in charge of the Lhasa arsenal or even directing operations at Gyantse. He had become one of the 13th Dalai Lama's teachers and was suspected by the British of being a Russian agent.

After a flurry of communications between Younghusband and the British authorities in India, Younghusband was temporarily recalled to the Chumbi Valley. Younghusband returned with more than a hundred mounted soldiers

Mounted infantry

Mounted infantry were soldiers who rode horses instead of marching, but actually fought on foot . The original dragoons were essentially mounted infantry...

, more than two thousand infantry, eight big guns, two thousand coolie

Coolie

Historically, a coolie was a manual labourer or slave from Asia, particularly China, India, and the Phillipines during the 19th century and early 20th century...

s and four thousand yaks and mules. They arrived on the 28th of June and raised the siege of Changlo. Attempts to negotiate a settlement failed, with the Tibetans not responding to threats from Younghusband.

Also on 28 June, the nearby "seemingly impregnable" Tsechen Monastery and Dzong

Tsechen Monastery and Dzong

Tsechen Monastery, Tsechen Dzong or Shambu Tsegu, was about five kilometres northwest of Gyantse above the traditional village of the same name. Tsechen was the largest of a number of hilltop monastery-forts ringing the valley, none of which would be easy to assault. The fortress, or dzong, was...

 was stormed shortly before sunset, after a heavy bombardment by the British ten-pound cannon. Brigadier-General Macdonald, who had just arrived that day, concluded that Tsechen, which guarded the rear of the Gyantse Dzong, would have to be cleared before the assault it could begin.

An assault was therefore made on the Gyantse fortress on 5 July and, the following day, after a spirited defence by the Tibetans which lasted until sometime after 2 pm, a heavy artillery bombardment blew a hole in the wall followed by a direct hit on the powder magazine

Magazine (artillery)

Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...

, causing a large explosion after which some Gurkha

Gurkha

Gurkha are people from Nepal who take their name from the Gorkha District. Gurkhas are best known for their history in the Indian Army's Gorkha regiments, the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas and the Nepalese Army. Gurkha units are closely associated with the kukri, a forward-curving Nepalese knife...

 and British troops manage to climb the rock face, scramble inside, and take the fort in spite of a heavy hail of boulders and stones thrown down upon them by the few defenders left on what remained of the walls.

The victory was followed by widespread and sanctioned looting and plundering the dzong and nearby monasteries by the British troops. The "sanctioned plundering was subsequently hushed up".

The dead Tibetan defenders were "lying in heaps," and it took a major effort using prisoners to drag all the bodies away. For several days the sapper

Sapper

A sapper, pioneer or combat engineer is a combatant soldier who performs a wide variety of combat engineering duties, typically including, but not limited to, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, demolitions, field defences, general construction and building, as well as road and airfield...

s were kept busy blowing up what remained of the defences at Gyantse, Tsechen and other places and finding hidden stores. Between Gyantse and Tsechen: "Our way was strewn with corpses. The warriors from the Kham

Kham

Kham , is a historical region covering a land area largely divided between present-day Tibetan Autonomous Region and Sichuan province, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces of China. During the Republic of China's rule over mainland China , most of the region was...

 country, who formed a large part of the Tibetan army, were glorious in death, long-haired giants, lying as they fell with their crude weapons lying beside them, and usually with a peaceful, patient look on their faces."

The way was now open to Lhasa

Lhasa

Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...

. The troops began the march to the capital on 14 July.

Gyantse Dzong since the arrival of the Chinese

The walls were dynamited again by the Chinese in 1967 during the Cultural Revolution

Cultural Revolution

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...

, but little more seems to have been recorded about this turbulent period. However, the dzong has gradually been restored, and "still dominates the town and surrounding plains as it always did." There is now a small museum there outlining the excesses of the Younghusband expedition from the Chinese perspective.