Ganden Monastery is located on Wangbur Mountain

Ganden Monastery is located on Wangbur Mountain, on the southern bank of Lhasa River in Tagtse County, 47 kilometers (29 miles) from Lhasa City. It stands at an altitude of 3,800 meters (12,467 feet) above sea level! It is one of the earliest and largest Buddhist monasteries in Tibet, and stands atop of the six famous temples of Gelugpa - a branch of Tibetan Buddhism. Its significance as a religious, artistic, political and cultural relic led to it being preserved by the National Key Cultural Relic Preservation scheme in 1961, and is now known as being one of the 'Three Great Temples', together with the Sera Monastery and the Drepung Monastery . Every year, one of the grandest of Buddhist activities - Buddha Painting Unfolding Festival - is conducted here, attracting thousands of visitors and disciples.

 

The main temple and over seventy buildings were completed that year, 1409, in strict adherence with the Indian monastic rules. The next year, on a hill behind Ganden, Tsongkhapa unearthed the treasure conch shell that Maudgalyayana had buried there. All the prophesies about Ganden Monastery were thus fulfilled. In 1416, Tsongkhapa gave the Ganden conch to his disciple, Jamyang Chojey ('Jam-dbyangs Chos-rje bKra-shis dpal-ldan) (1379-1449), who founded Drepung Monastery ('Bras-spungs dGon-pa) later that year. The conch has been kept at Drepung ever since. Another close disciple, Jamchen Chojey (Byams-chen Chos-rje Shakya ye-shes) (1354-1435), founded Sera Monastery (Se-ra dGon-pa) in 1419, the year Tsongkhapa passed away.

Ganden Monastery is comprised of two colleges, Jangtsey (Byang-rtse Grva-tshang) and Shartsey (Shar-rtse grva-tshang), meaning North Peak and East Peak respectively. According to one tradition, they were named after their location to the north and east of Ganden's main temple.
The Ganden Monastery Colleges Jangtse and Shartse have also been reestablished in India. They are named The Ganden Jangtse College and The Gaden Shartse Monastery. They are located in Karnataka. The three main sights in the Ganden Monastery are the Serdung, which contains the tomb of Tsongkhapa, the Tsokchen Assembly Hall and the Ngam Cho Khang the chapel where Tsongkhapa traditionally taught. The monastery houses artifacts which belonged to Tsongkhapa.