Perched on a hillock overlooking the Phobjikha valley, the Gangtey Gompa is the largest Nyingmapa monastery in western Bhutan founded in 1613 by Gyalse Pema Thinley, a grandson, and reincarnation of influential treasure finder Pema Lingpa. The ninth Gangtey Trulku heads it.
The monastery is named after the Gangtey village, a small village in Phobjikha valley where the black-necked cranes migrate from the Tibetan plateau and roost in the winter. The monastery is bounded on the west by the Black Mountains (range over 5,000 m), which are inhabited by nomadic shepherds and yak herders.
