Monasteries of Upper Mustang: Lo Manthang's Ancient Gompas

Upper Mustang, the northern half of Nepal's Mustang district, was until 2008 the seat of the Kingdom of Lo, a small Tibetan-Buddhist realm founded by the warrior-king Ame Pal in 1380 CE (roughly 1436 BS in the Bikram Sambat calendar). Ame Pal built the walled city of Lo Manthang as the kingdom's political and religious heart, and the settlement has changed remarkably little in outline since. The royal line traced 25 generations back to Ame Pal; its last king, Jigme Dorje Palbar Bista (1930-2016), lost formal status when Nepal abolished the monarchy in 2008.

Lo Manthang sits on a plateau at about 3,800 metres above sea level, on the ancient salt-and-wool trade route that follows the Kali Gandaki river between the Nepali midhills and the Tibetan plateau. The town is enclosed by a roughly 6-metre-high earthen wall with corner watchtowers (dzong), and inside it around 180 tightly-packed mud-brick houses share space with the royal palace and several major gompas (monasteries). The inhabitants, called Loba or Lopa ('people of Lo'), are culturally and linguistically close to western and central Tibet.

The whole of Upper Mustang was a closed restricted area, off-limits to foreign visitors, until it was cautiously opened to organised group trekking in 1992. That long isolation is a large part of why its medieval religious art and architecture survive so intact. UNESCO has placed the 'Medieval Earthen Walled City of Lo Manthang' on Nepal's World Heritage Tentative List (reference 5256), and the nearby cave complexes on a separate Tentative-List entry (reference 841).

Thubchen Lhakhang (also spelt Thupchen or Thubchen Gompa) is the largest monastery inside Lo Manthang's walls and the town's ceremonial assembly hall. It dates to the 15th century, the great age of monastery-building under the early kings of Lo, and belongs to the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism that dominates Mustang. Its cavernous prayer hall measures about 37 metres long, 24 metres wide and 12 metres high, its roof carried on tall wooden columns.

The walls are covered with monumental murals, some individual figures standing as much as 7 metres tall. Centuries of candle-smoke, water damage and neglect had left the paintings badly deteriorated. Between 1998 and 1999 a major conservation campaign led by the American Himalayan Foundation, working with the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (now the National Trust for Nature Conservation), stabilised the structure and painstakingly cleaned and restored the wall paintings, one of the most ambitious mural-rescue projects ever undertaken in the Himalaya.

For visitors, Thubchen is the clearest introduction to Lo's artistic golden age: a single, dimly lit space where the scale and confidence of 15th-century Newar-influenced Tibetan painting can be taken in at once. The monastery is used for the community's most important prayer ceremonies rather than as a residential teaching institution.

Jampa (Champa) Lhakhang, the 'Temple of Maitreya', is Lo Manthang's other great 15th-century foundation and, for many art historians, its artistic peak. Long thought to be an 11th-century building, its main phase of construction and decoration is now dated to the 15th century. The multi-storey temple takes its name from a large seated image of Jampa (Maitreya), the future Buddha.

What makes Jampa exceptional is its walls: they carry one of the world's largest surviving collections of painted mandalas, intricate cosmological diagrams used in Buddhist meditation, executed in the refined Newar-Tibetan style of the period. Like Thubchen, the temple was restored with support from the American Himalayan Foundation and Nepali partners. The 2015 Gorkha earthquake damaged parts of the roughly 500-year-old paintings and floors, prompting further conservation work by the American Himalayan Foundation and the Lo Gyalpo Jigme Cultural Conservation Foundation.

Thubchen and Jampa are usually visited together on a short guided circuit within the walls, often alongside the royal palace and Choede monastery. Photography inside is typically restricted to protect the fragile pigments, and the temples are frequently kept locked, so a local guide or monastery caretaker with the key is essential.

Choede (Chhode) Gompa is the working heart of monastic life in Lo Manthang. Founded in the 15th century and affiliated with the Sakya school, its complex today includes a monastic school, a museum and the community of monks and young novices (thawa) who keep the town's religious calendar. Crucially, the monks of Choede are the traditional custodians and performers of the Tiji festival dances.

Namgyal Gompa (Pal Ewam Namgyal Choede Thupten Dhargyeling) stands on a hilltop north of the walled town at around 3,850 metres. Historically it has been the most important seat of the Ngor sub-school of Sakya in Lo, associated with the master Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo, who was invited to Mustang by the early kings. Namgyal has long functioned as a centre of Lamdre teaching and, by tradition, also served the kingdom as a place of adjudication and record-keeping.

These monasteries are 'living' in a way that ruins are not: they house resident monks, run schools, and remain the focus of everyday worship for the Loba. Visitors are welcome at appropriate times but should follow monastery etiquette, remove shoes, walk clockwise around shrines and chortens, avoid touching murals, and ask before photographing.

Ghar Gompa, also known as Lo Gekar, lies west of Lo Manthang and is by local tradition the oldest monastery in Mustang and one of the oldest in the wider Himalayan world. It is associated with Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), the tantric master credited with establishing Buddhism across Tibet, who according to legend meditated and subdued a demon here on his journey to Tibet in the 8th century. This links Ghar Gompa to the Nyingma tradition, the oldest of the Tibetan Buddhist schools, in contrast to the Sakya monasteries of Lo Manthang.

Set among clusters of red-painted chortens at roughly 3,900 metres, the shrine is famous for its stone slabs and wall panels: the main wall depicts Padmasambhava with his 25 disciples, while side walls are dedicated to the peaceful and wrathful deities of the bardo, the intermediate state described in Tibetan Buddhist teaching. Pilgrims regard the site as especially blessed and powerful.

Because Ghar Gompa sits off the main Lo Manthang road, it is often reached as a side trip or on an alternate return route via Dhakmar and Ghami. Its antiquity, remote setting and Nyingma character make it a compelling counterpoint to the grand royal Sakya foundations at the capital.

Tiji (Tenchi), whose name derives from the Tibetan 'Tempa Chirim' meaning roughly 'prayer for world peace', is Upper Mustang's most important religious festival. Held over three days each spring inside Lo Manthang, usually in May, it dramatises the myth of Dorje Jono (a form of the deity Vajrakila), who battles and defeats a demon father to save the kingdom of Lo from destruction, drought and disaster. The festival is a ritual re-enactment of good triumphing over evil and of the renewal of harmony in the land.

The masked cham dances are performed by the monks of Choede monastery in the square before the royal palace, accompanied by long horns, drums and chanting. Over the three days the narrative unfolds from the demon's ravages through Dorje Jono's fierce dances to the final expulsion of evil. Tiji draws Loba from across the district as well as a limited number of trekkers, who often time their visit specifically for it.

For travellers, Tiji is the single best window into Lo Manthang's living monastic culture, but it falls on lunar-calendar dates that shift year to year, so exact dates should be confirmed close to the time. Because Upper Mustang remains a restricted area, attending still requires the special permit and a licensed guide.

Upper Mustang is a designated Restricted Area, so foreign trekkers cannot travel independently: you must go through a licensed Nepali trekking agency, in a group of at least two, with a registered guide, and carry the special Restricted Area Permit (RAP). In November 2025 Nepal replaced the long-standing flat fee (about US$500 for the first 10 days plus US$50 per extra day) with a simpler charge of US$50 per person per day; you should verify the current rate with the agency or the Department of Immigration, as fees change periodically. An Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) permit is also required.

The best seasons are spring (roughly March to May) and autumn (September to November); because Mustang lies in the rain shadow of the Himalaya, it stays relatively dry and is one of the few Nepali regions trekkable during the summer monsoon, though winters are cold and windy. Access is via Jomsom, reached by flight or road from Pokhara, and Lo Manthang can be reached on foot or increasingly by jeep along the new road.

At every monastery, behave as you would in a functioning place of worship: dress modestly, remove hats and shoes where asked, keep voices low, walk clockwise around chortens and mani walls, do not touch or lean on murals, and never photograph interiors without permission. Small cash donations help fund the ongoing upkeep of these fragile earthen buildings and their irreplaceable paintings.