Situating on top of a mountain dominating the Tang River and the valley, Ogyen Choling (Palace) Museum is a very unique museum in Central Bhutan exhibiting the traditional Bhutanese living condition of a noble family in 1800s.
The history of Ogyen Choling began with the visit by a Tibetan master of Buddhism in 1300s. Its position above the valley is an auspicious location which symbolizes the top of an elephant head with the mountain as the back. The place was blessed and regarded as a Tibetan saint Dorji Lingpa’s center. The better known history is that Tsokye Dorji, the fifthteenth generation of Dorji Lingpa, who was the Governor of Trongsa at a time had passed his position to the father of the First King of Bhutan in 1800s.
The original Ogyen Choling was destroyed in the devastating earthquake in 1897. This current estate was rebuilt in 1898 and completed in 1899. As basic and old as the housing estate seems, Ogyen Choling is considered a valuable religious center and a historic estate in Bhutan. The heirs of this noble family continued to keep this estate and the temple, turned part of the main house into a museum in 2001 and run a heritage guest house. The museum relies on admission tickets and donations to run the museum as well as to support the needy in the community.
It is an interesting private museum that exhibits a lot of things about the living and trading in Bhutan history.
Tang valley is one of the four valleys in Bumthang. It takes about 1 hour to drive through a dirt road from the main town area. This village is close to the bottom of Ogyen Choling. 唐谷 (Tang Valley) 是不丹中部布姆唐4個河谷之一，距離市中心約一小時的路程。這是鄔治初林 (Ogyen Choling) 山腳附近的村庄。Ogyen Choling is a complex with two main buildings in the middle surrounded by 2 serviced buildings. 鄔治初林有2座主樓在中間，外面有2座”服務”建築包圍。The main building is a 4 storey large block of building with traditional Bhutanese style construction. Only part of the main building is turned into a museum and open for visit. 這是鄔治初林的主樓，樓高4層，是傳統不丹建築。大樓的一部份是開放的博物館。The museum tour is a guided tour. Since only part of house is open, the exhibition rooms are locked before and after the tour visit. You cannot roam around by yourself. Well, it’s like a maze anyway. 由於只有部份房間開放作為展覽廳，參觀博物館有專人帶領講解，所有展覽廳都有鎖，參觀後會關閉，遊客不可以自由走動（其實要你自由活動都有難度，建築物很大，有點像迷宮）。While Bhutan is mostly self-sufficient, there are a few things they trade with the neighboring countries: Tibet and India. Back in the old days, they trade rice for salt from Tibet. There is an extensive display of all tools and storage of rice for rice trading in the museum. 雖然不丹基本上是自給自足，但有些物資會與鄰國進行貿易，當中包括不丹出產的稻米會與西藏交易食鹽。博物館內有展示一些稻米、當時用的儲糧及交易用具等。These rattan containers are for trading use. 這些藤器都是舊時用品。Drinking bottles in the old days. 這些牛角是舊式水瓶。In addition to rice trading, Ogyen Choling was also a big landlord that hire local carpenters, blacksmiths, silversmiths, leather and weaving workers to produce various products for sale and trading. Bhutanese use cattle and yak skins to produce a wide variety of household and travel products. 除了稻米和麥，鄔治初林也是大地主，會聘請很多當地工匠、鐵匠及一些工人生產各種用品，包括皮夾和編織出售。The museum retains the original structure and living condition since 1800s. Most of the display rooms rely on natural daylight for viewing. So it’s best to visit during the mid-day. 博物館的特色是保留1800 年代的建築和生活情況，所以大部份開放的展覽廳都是利用天日陽光透過細小窗戶照明，所以最好是白天前來參觀。The original kitchen was outside the house to avoid fire accident. The kitchen in the museum was created for exhibition purpose. 為了預防火災，原來廚房是在主樓外，博物館內看見的廚房是為了展示昔日生活而模仿當時的廚房而建，讓遊客參觀，了解不丹傳統生活情況。The upper two floors are the accommodation for the noble family and important guests. This is the admin office of the head of the house. This seat is a single chair on the floor with a small table in front. Please notice the nice ceiling decorations which is similar to those in a temple hall. 樓上兩層是貴族的房間及貴賓的住宿地方，這是主人的辦公室，是一張單人座位，前面有一張像茶几的小桌。請留意天花板的佈置，跟廟宇的裝飾一樣。Since Ogyen Choling has a strong linkage to Buddhism. It has its own wood block printing press for making prayer flags and printing scripts. There is also a library (more like cabinets) of Buddhism scripts in the museum. 由於鄔治初林與佛教的淵源及其宗教地位，這裏有自己的木板印刷，製作經幡和經文。此外，博物館有一個簡單的圖書櫃收藏經文。The museum exhibits a collection of musical instruments and costumes for the sacred religious dances which were used before. Some of them are still in use today for some festivals. 博物館內展示很多佛教祭典用的面具和樂器，有些樂器至今仍然在節日使用。The second main building is the two storey temple (Tsug Lhakhang) on the right of the photo. 另一座主要建築物是圖右的兩層樓高廟宇。The temple (Lhakhang) is a public place for the local community. There are prayers and people come visit every day. 廟宇是開放的，每天都有僧侶誦經和附近村民前來朝拜。
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