Trasigang

Trashigang Dzong rises on a steep promontory above the Drangme Chhu and Gamri Chhu in eastern Bhutan. Cliffs protect the fortress on three sides, and its position made it a commanding seat for government and religious life in the eastern valleys.

In 1659 Chogyal Minjur Tenpa, the governor of Trongsa, built the dzong as the authority of the Drukpa government extended over eastern Bhutan. Ngawang Namgyal had charged him with subduing local chiefs and establishing a stronghold there. The fortress served both as an administrative headquarters and as a monastery following Drukpa Kagyu teachings. Gyalsey Tenzin Rabgye enlarged it later in the seventeenth century, strengthening the fortress that guarded the eastern valleys and their approaches from the neighbouring Himalayan mountain highlands.