The Jokhang and Ramoche temples were built to house the two celebrated statues of Buddha brought to Tibet by the Chinese and Nepalese princess who married King Songtsen Gampo in the 7th century. The wish to decorate these temples provoked a great surge of artistic activity, which has bequeathed to us some of the oldest woodcarving of its kind in the world. The Tibetan carpenter has traditionally fulfilled the role of architect and engineer, choosing how beams and pillars should be placed in new buildings and assessing which components should bear stress from which direction. In addition to that, he had inimitable decorative skills expressed through intricate carving.