Some seven thousand temples and monasteries were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. However, a few early ones of special significance survived and this study provides their first visual and scholarly documentation. It is conceived as a series of monographs on extant temples of the eighth to fifteenth centuries in Central Tibet, which together, and on occasion uniquely, represent successive, yet fundamental phases of Tibetan culture. These include the Yarlung Dynasty temple of Kachu; a group of eleventh century temples including Yemar and Drathang; a little known chapel in the Lhasa Jokhang; the beautiful temple of Shalu, and the nine-storeyed stupa of Riwoche. The art-historical appreciation of these temples has been approached through authoritative Tibetan literary sources. With a profusion of color plates, this book records both those monuments and styles hitherto unknown to exist, and those others which survive, albeit precariously, but which have not been subjected to a thorough investigation in the past. Roberto Vitali is the author of the Kingdoms of Guge Pu.hrang, a pioneering study of the history of west Tibet.