Dzong

Tibetan name
Tibetan script : རྫོང་
Wylie transliteration : rDzong
Chinese name
Simplified : 宗
Pinyin : zōng

Dzong is the name for Buddhist monastery castles in Bhutan and Tibet and, to a lesser extent, in other Tibetan areas in the Himalayas (e.g. Ladakh and Sikkim ). Based on this, the corresponding administrative units assigned to them are often called Dzong.

Dzong in Bhutan

In each of the 20 districts ( dzongkhag ) of Bhutan there is at least one of these monastery fortresses, which as the core of the earlier feudalist system were both the religious center and the seat of the administration of the respective district. Therefore, each of these fortresses consists of a religious and a secular part.

These are the fortresses and their location in detail:

No.	district	Dzong	built	Remarks	image
1	Thump	Jakar Dzong	1646		more pictures
2	Chukha	Chukha Dzong
3	Dagana	Dagana dzong
4th	Gasa	Gasa Dzong	17th century		more pictures
5	Haa	Haa-dzong	1913		more pictures
6th	Lhuntse	Lhuentse Dzong	1654		more pictures
7th	Mongar	Mongar Dzong
8th	Paro	Drukyel Dzong	1647	ruin	more pictures
8th	Paro	Paro Dzong	15th century	also called Rinpung-Dzong, seat of the district administration	more pictures
9	Pemagatshel	Pemagatshel Dzong
10	Punakha	Punakha Dzong	1637/38	Coronation place of the Dragon Kings and seat of government until 1965	more pictures
11	Samdrup Jongkhar	Samdrup Jongkhar Dzong
12	Velvet	Velvet Dzong
13	Sarpang	Sarpang Dzong
14th	Thimphu	Tashichho Dzong	1216	seat of government since 1965	more pictures
		Semtokha Dzong	1629-32		more pictures
		Lingzhi-Yügyal-Dzong			more pictures
15th	Trashigang	Trashigang dzong	1659		more pictures
16	Trashiyangtse	Trashiyangtse Dzong			more pictures
17th	Trongsa	Trongsa Dzong	1647	largest dzong in Bhutan	more pictures
18th	Tsirang	Tsirang Dzong			more pictures
19th	Wangdue Phodrang	Guard dzong	13th century
19th	Wangdue Phodrang	Wangdue Phodrang Dzong	1638		more pictures
20th	Zhemgang	Zhemgang Dzong

A group of five of these dzongs (Punakha-, Wangdue-Phodrang-, Paro-, Trongsa- and Dagana-Dzong) are named " Dzongs: Centers of the Secular and Religious Authorities " on Bhutan's tentative list for inclusion in the UNESCO World heritage . The ruins of Drukgyel-Dzong are also on this list as a separate object.