Nepal and Bhutan
Kathmandu’s great stupa and its Tibetan Buddhist community.
Start here · Essential guide
An overview of the Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu: its legends, uncertain dating, role for Tibetan Buddhism in Nepal, post-2015 restoration and visiting tips.
Boudhanath is a stupa rather than a temple. Learn how it differs from a temple and about the monasteries (gompas) and traditions that surround it in Kathmandu.
The Tibetan founding legend of Boudhanath, known as Jarung Khashor, retold as tradition and kept clearly separate from what history and archaeology can show.
How to join the clockwise kora around the Boudhanath Stupa, with notes on prayer wheels, butter lamps and the etiquette that visitors are generally asked to follow.
How Tibetan refugees arriving after 1959 reshaped the Boudha neighbourhood around the stupa, bringing new monasteries, schools and daily religious life.
Boudhanath is one of the monument zones of the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site. See how it relates to the valley's other protected sites and why that matters.
An outline of festivals at Boudhanath, including Losar and full-moon observances, described in general terms, with a reminder to check dates locally.
Read the form of the Boudhanath Stupa part by part: its base, dome, painted eyes, thirteen tiers and spire, and the symbolism generally attributed to each.
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