The area covered by Tibetan Buddhist culture—which extends from the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China into neighboring Chinese provinces and into adjacent parts of India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Burma (Myanmar)—shares a common architectural tradition. The basic units are the temple and the stupa. Temples may stand alone either in open countryside or in a village or town, or more commonly they may, singly or in a group, form the core of a monastic community, or sometimes of a fortified palace complex. Stupas, usually modest in size, are ubiquitous features of the landscape. Occasionally a stupa of massive proportions will dominate a monastery or temple site.

The architectural style of Tibetan Buddhism is distinctive and as such has been exported to Mongolia and parts of China, and to Tibetan refugee communities around the world. The style has been created...