Drepung Monastery (near Lhasa)

Drepung Monastery, just west of Lhasa, is one of the three great Gelug monastic universities of central Tibet. It was founded in 1416 by Jamyang Choje, a disciple of Tsongkhapa; the Second Dalai Lama built the Ganden Podrang residence there in 1518, and it became the principal seat of the early Dalai Lamas, several of whom (including the Second and Fourth) studied and resided there before the Potala was built.