Thongdrel

thumb|Large thongdrel or appliqué festival thangka hung in the courtyard at [[Jakar Dzong in Bhutan, 2013]] thumb|The thangka wall at [[Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, Tibet]] thumb|Large thangka hung on a wall at Gyantse in Tibet in 1938

A thongdrel (མཐོང་གྲོལ།) or throngdrel (also thongdroel or thongdrol) is a large appliqué (གོས་དྲུབ།) religious image normally only unveiled during tsechus(ཚེ་བཅུ།), the main religious festivals in Bhutan. They are the largest form of thangka(ཐང་ཀ།) paintings in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Thongdrels typically depict a seated Guru Rinpoche surrounded by holy beings in a composition that, unlike most smaller thangkas, is in a "landscape" format, somewhat wider than it is tall.