Photos

Visiting the Phodrang monastery in Wangdi I took this picture of the man between the holly wheels of prey. Monastery means Dzong in Bhutanese language.
Wangdi Phodrang Dzong (built in 1638) which dominates the district, and the name of the small market town outside the gates of the dzong. The name is said to have been given by the Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal who was searching for the best location for a dzong to prevent incursions from the south. At the chosen spot the Shabdrung encountered a boy named Wangdi playing beside the river and hence named the dzong "Wangdi's Palace".

Dzong architecture is a distinctive type of fortress architecture found in the former and present Buddhist kingdoms of the Himalayas, most notably Bhutan. The architecture is massive in style with towering exterior walls surrounding a complex of courtyards, temples, administrative offices, and monks' accommodation. Distinctive features include:

High inward sloping walls of brick and stone painted white with few or no windows in the lower sections of the wall
Use of a surrounding red ochre stripe near the top of the walls, sometimes punctuated by large gold circles.
Use of Chinese-style flared roofs atop interior temples.
Massive entry doors made of wood and iron
Interior courtyards and temples brightly colored in Buddhist-themed art motifs such as the ashtamangala or swastika, for example...

Dzongs serve as the religious, military, administrative, and social centers of their district. They are often the site of an annual tsechu or religious festival. There were two Dzongpöns for every Dzong - a lama (Tse-dung) and a layman. They were entrusted with both civil and military powers and are equal in all respects, though subordinate to the generals and the Chinese Amban in military matters.
The rooms inside the dzong are typically allocated half to administrative function (such as the office of the penlop or governor), and half to religious function, primarily the temple and housing for monks. This division between administrative and religious functions reflects the idealized duality of power between the religious and administrative branches of government...