The only path from the base of the hill to the palace halls on the hilltop is a man-made tunnel. The upper part of the Guge Castle holds the Winter Hall and Summer Hall, where the royal family lived. They are empty now. Only the frescos and wooden engravings in Tancheng Hall are well preserved. Guge's colored paintings, frescos and sculptures are rich works of a high artistic level and immense research value.
The Guge ruins are a historical and cultural treasure. To rescue and protect the precious relics, the State sent a relic investigation team to the ruins in 1959. In 1961, the State Council put the ruins under key State protection.
In 1987, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage allocated a huge sum for the repairing of the Guge Castle, and the next year, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Department of Culture of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Ngari Prefectural Government carried out six key maintenance projects based on a number of field studies. The year 1997 witnessed one more rescuing and repairing of the ruins under the instruction of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. Surrounding the Guge ruins are running clay forests which look like a "great wall" safeguarding Guge. The noted Xiangquanhe River is not far away. "Guge" seems to be an encyclopedia, with a long history, deeply-rooted culture, mystic legends and many unfathomable enigmas. The ruins of the Guge Kingdom, standing on the desolate land, silently relate the history and give forth the light of art.
Besides the ruins of the Guge Kingdom, Ngari also boasts a number of noted monasteries, temples and ruins, including the Toding Monastery at the county town of Zhada, the Kegya monastery in Burang County, the Rutog Monastery in Rutog County, and the Doshang and Shangze ruins. They constitute the valuable historical and cultural heritage left by the ancestors of the Tibetan ethnic group.
