Tibet’s traditional architecture – folk house

Tibetan architecture contains Chinese and Indian influence, but has many unique features brought about by its adaptation to the cold, generally arid, high-altitude climate of the Tibetan plateau. The Tibet’s traditional architecture – folk house reflects the features most.

Tibet has produced one of the world's most unique and easily-recognizable forms of architecture. Nevertheless, systematic study of Tibetan architecture is still a comparatively unexplored field.

Tibetan construction activities can be traced back over 1300 years, when the first Buddhist temples were built in central Tibet. One of these, the Lhasa Jokhang, still exists and yields important information about the origins and early development of Tibetan architecture.

The earliest surviving Tibetan religious monuments are closely based on Indian prototypes. Later temples and monuments, built after the period of the second diffusion of Buddhism, are very similar to Tibetan vernacular architecture. They show only limited foreign architectural influences. The earliest extant defensive structures appear likewise to be based on indigenous designs and technologies.