Ramoche Temple was originally built to house the famous statue of Sakyamuni

Ramoche Monastery is situated in the northwest of Lhasa, covering a total area of 4000 square meters (one acre). This temple is one of the key cultural relic protection sites of the Tibet Autonomous Region as well as a hot attraction in Lhasa.
The original building complex has a strong Tang architecture influence, for it was first built by Han Chinese architects in the middle of the 7th century (during the Tang Dynasty). Han Princess Wencheng took charge of this project and ordered the temple be erected facing east to show her homesickness.

 In the days of King Songtsan Gampo, Ramoche Temple was originally built to house the famous statue of Sakyamuni, now found in the Jokhang, which was originally brought to Tibet by Princess Wen Cheng. Legend has it that when Princess Wen Cheng and her entourage arrived at the North gate of Lhasa, her carriage got stuck in the mud. Her assistants could not remove the statue and so they covered it temporarily with 4 pillars and white brocade. Later, the Princess ordered the construction of Ramoche as a shrine for the statue. And the temple faces easte which said that Princess Wencheng wanted to show her homesickness. Twenty years later, in 652 A.D., the leader of Tibet was concerned with rumours that the Chinese Emperor was considering an invasion of Tibet. As a protection, he moved the Sakyamuni statue from the Ramoche to the Jokhang, and hid it from view. It had remained there ever since. In exchange Ramoche Temple received a smaller bronze statue of Sakyamuni, which has been brought to Tibet by Songtsan Gampo's other wife, the Nepalese Princess Tritsun. By the mid-15th century the temple had become Lhasa's Upper Tantric College(Mi zong).