Oldest Buddhist Monastery : Ladakh, India

Thikse Monastery

• Thikse Gompa or Thikse Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Yellow Hat sect, located on top of a hill, in Ladakh, India.
• It is the largest gompa in central Ladakh.[2]
• It is a 12-storey complex and houses many items of Buddhist art such as stupas, statues, thangkas, wall paintings and swords.
• One of the main points of interest is the Maitreya (future Buddha) Temple which is installed to commemorate the visit of the 14th Dalai Lama to this monastery in 1970.
• A 15 metres (49 ft) high statue of Maitreya, the largest such statue in Ladakh, covering two storeys of the building is deified in the monastery.
• A nunnery is also part of the complex.

The statue of Maitreya Buddha at Thikse is two storeys tall.