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Alchi Monastery

Alchi Monastery

pilgrimage site · Leh & Ladakh

State
Leh & Ladakh
Type
Pilgrimage Site

Alchi is unlike any other gompa in Ladakh: it sits low by the Indus rather than on a crag, and its temples preserve some of the finest 11th–12th century Buddhist art in the world. The Kashmiri-style murals of the Sumtsek and Dukhang — thousand-Buddha walls, colossal bodhisattvas painted with miniature scenes on their robes — survive from the era of the great translator Rinchen Zangpo. It is a quiet village of apricot orchards, a living museum of a vanished artistic world.

When to go

May to September

Why visit

Eleventh-century Kashmiri murals unmatched anywhere in the Himalayas — Ladakh's art treasure.

How to reach

About 65 km west of Leh off the Srinagar highway, across the Indus from Saspol; taxis do it as a day trip, often with Likir and Basgo.

Alchi Monastery guide & itineraries

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