The Sera Monastery, one of the three leading monasteries in Tibet, re-opened to believers and tourists on Monday.

It had been closed since the March 14 unrest in the regional capital.

"I'm very happy to see the re-opening of the monastery," said a Tibetan monk, Gyaltsen Monlam, turning prayer wheels at the monastery.

On April 20, Buddhist services at the monastery resumed.

"Monks have been taught legal knowledge in recent days and the monastery has resumed normal religious activities," said Tenzin Namgyal, deputy director of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee.

"It's the first monastery in Lhasa to re-open to the outside. The other monasteries will follow suit in the future," he said.

"Many tourists and believers came to the monastery today, and more are expected in the following days."

"I have been in Lhasa for two days. Life here goes as normal," said Zhang Jian, a tourist from the southern city of Guangzhou. "But I am regretful that the rain disturbed a scheduled Buddhist doctrine debate in the monastery on Monday."

The Sera Monastery sits at the foot of Hill Tatipu in northern Lhasa and is dedicated to the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat Sect), a branch of Tibetan Buddhism.

As one of the basic schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the Sera monastery is famous for monks' debates over Buddhist philosophy.

Built in 1419, the Sera Monastery is as prestigious as the Drepung and Ganden monasteries in Lhasa. "Sera" means "wild rose garden" in Tibetan.

Tibet's architectural icon, the Potala Palace in Lhasa, re-opened to tourists on March 26.

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2008)