Sights in Himachal Pradesh
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Ki Gompa
About 12km from Kaza, the tiny village of Ki is dominated by the whitewashed buildings of Ki Gompa. Set atop a 4116m-high hillock, this is the largest gompa in Spiti and the views from the top are extremely photogenic. Around 300 monks, including many students from surrounding villages, live here. An atmospheric puja is held in the new prayer hall every morning at around 7am (8am in winter). On request, the monks will open up the original medieval prayer rooms, full of thangkas, Buddhist texts printed on cloth, and the bed slept in by the Dalai Lama on his visits in 1960 and 2000. Dance masks are brought out for the annual Ki chaam festival (June/July) and again in Februa…
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Naggar Castle
Built by the Sikh rajas of Kullu in 1460, this beautiful fort is a fine example of the alternating stone and timber style of Himachali architecture. It was converted into a hotel in 1978 when the last raja fell on hard times. There’s a tiny one-room museum downstairs, and the Jagtipath Temple in the courtyard houses a slab of stone said to have been carried here by wild bees. The best way to experience the castle is to stay here, and there’s also a restaurant – see right.
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Bhimakali Temple
The former summer capital of the Bushahr kingdom, Sarahan is dominated by the fabulous Bhimakali Temple, built from layers of stone and timber to absorb the force of earthquakes. There are two towers here, one built in the 12th century, and a newer tower from the 1920s containing a highly revered shrine to Bhimakali (the local version of Kali) beneath a beautiful silver-filigree canopy.
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Dhankar Gompa
The 1200-year-old Dhankar Gompa is wedged between rocky spurs at the top of the Dhankar village, with views that inspire euphoria. The lower monastery building has a silver statue of Vajradhara (the Diamond Being), and there’s a second prayer hall on the hilltop, with exquisite medieval murals of Sakyamuni, Tsongkhapa and Lama Chodrag.
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Tabo Gompa
About 47km east of Kaza, tiny Tabo is the only other town in the Spiti Valley. The ridge above town is riddled with caves used as meditation cells by local lamas. The village is completely dominated by Tabo Gompa, a World Heritage Site preserving some of the finest Indo-Tibetan art in the world.
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Tibet Museum
Just inside the main entry gate of the Tsuglagkhang Complex is the Tibet Museum, telling the tragic story of the Chinese occupation and the subsequent Tibetan exodus through photographs, interviews and video clips. A visit here is a must for anyone staying in McLeod Ganj.
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Secretariat of the Tibetan Government in Exile
Inside the government compound at Gangchen Kyishong, the Library Of Tibetan Works & Archives preserves the Tibetan texts saved from the Cultural Revolution. Many of the texts have since been translated into English and other European languages, but you must become a temporary member (Rs 50 per month; passport needed for ID) to access the collection.
Upstairs is a fascinating cultural museum with statues, old Tibetan artefacts and books, and some astonishing three-dimensional mandalas in wood and sand. Also worth a visit is the Nechung Gompa, home to the Tibetan state oracle.
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Kangra Fort
On the far side of town, an Rs80 autorickshaw ride from the bus stand, the impregnable-looking Kangra Fort soars above the confluence of the Manjhi and Banganga Rivers. The fort was used by Hindu rajas, Mughal warlords and even the British before it was finally toppled by the earthquake of 1905. On clear days, head to the battlements for views north to the mountains and south to the plains. A small museum at the fort has stone carvings from temples inside the compound and miniature paintings from the Kangra School.
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Norbulingka Institute
About 6km from Dharamsala, the wonderful Norbulingka Institute was established in 1988 to teach and preserve traditional Tibetan art forms, including woodcarving, statue-making, thangka painting and embroidery. The centre produces expensive but exquisite souvenirs, including embroidered clothes, cushions and wall hangings, and sales benefit refugee artists. Also here are delightful Japanese-influenced gardens and a central Buddhist temple with a 4m-high gilded statue of Sakyamuni.
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Roerich Gallery
The main road through Naggar village continues for 2km to Roerich Gallery, the former home of eccentric Russian painter Nikolai Roerich, who died in Naggar in 1947. The lower floors display some of Roerich’s surreally colourful paintings of Kullu, Spiti and Lahaul, while the upper floors preserve the artist’s private rooms. Roerich was also the brains behind the Roerich Pact, a treaty signed by more than 60 countries guaranteeing the preservation of cultural monuments around the world.
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Taragarh Palace
About 2km south of Tashijong, at Taragarh, is the extraordinary Taragarh Palace, the summer palace of the last maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. Now a luxury hotel, this elegant country seat is full of portraits of the Dogra royal family, Italian marble, crystal chandeliers, tiger skins and other ostentatious furnishings. It’s set in beautiful grounds with a pool and tennis courts. The restaurant serves lavish buffet meals (Rs300 to Rs500).
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Viceregal Lodge
Built as an official residence for the British viceroys, the Viceregal Lodge looks like a cross between Harry Potter’s Hogwarts School and the Tower of London. Every brick used in its construction was hauled up here by mule. Today it houses the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, but you can take a guided tour of the buildings. Photography is not permitted inside. Tickets cost Rs20 if you just want to look around the gardens.
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State Museum
About 2.5km west of Scandal Point and a stiff walk up to the telecommunications mast, the state museum is home to an impressive collection of miniatures from Kangra and Rajasthan, as well as Chamba embroidery, coins and jewellery, temple carvings, paintings of Shimla, and weapons – including some massive and unwieldy-looking blunderbusses. There is also a gallery devoted to the visits that were made by Gandhi to Shimla.
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Bhuri Singh Museum
Founded in 1908 and named after the Chamba ruler of that time, this museum has a wonderful collection of miniature paintings from the Chamba, Kangra and Basohli schools, plus woodcarvings, weapons, rumals, intriguing copper-plate inscriptions, relics from the rajas and ornately carved fountain slabs from around the Chamba Valley. There’s detailed labelling in English.
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Kalachakra Temple
Next to the Tsuglagkhang is the Kalachakra Temple, built in 1992, which contains mesmerising murals of the Kalachakra (Wheel of Time) mandala, specifically linked to Avalokitesvara, currently represented on earth by the Dalai Lama. Sand mandalas are created here annually on the fifth day of the third Tibetan month. Photography is allowed in the Tsuglagkhang, but not in the Kalachakra Temple.
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Library of Tibetan Works & Archives
Inside the government compound at Gangchen Kyishong, the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives preserves the Tibetan texts saved from the Cultural Revolution. Many have since been translated into English and other European languages. Regular visitors can become temporary members (Rs50 per month; passport needed for ID) to access the collection.
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Great Himalayan National Park
This 750-sq-km national park was established in 1984 to preserve a home to 180 species of birds and rare mammals, such as black bears, brown bears, musk deer and the ever-elusive snow leopard. As well as conserving wildlife, the park runs programs that provide a sustainable income for people living on the periphery of the conservation area.
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Great Himalayan National Park
This 750-sq-km national park was established in 1984 to preserve a home to 180 species of birds and rare mammals, such as black bears, brown bears, musk deer and the ever-elusive snow leopard. As well as conserving wildlife, the park runs programs that provide a sustainable income for people living on the periphery of the conservation area.
reviewed
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Temples
A winding road runs southwest from Gaggal through pleasant green hills to the 10th century temples at Masrur. Although badly damaged by the 1905 earthquake, the sikharas owe more than a passing resemblance to the Hindu temples at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. You can climb to the upper level for mountain views.
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Men-Tsee-Khang
Established to preserve the ancient arts of amchi (traditional Tibetan medicine) and astrology, the Men-Tsee-Khang is a five-minute walk below the Secretariat. There’s a library and training college, and if you know the exact time you were born, you can have a whole life horoscope prepared in English.
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Tsechokling Gompa
At the bottom of a long flight of steps below the bus stand, this peaceful gompa was built in 1987 to replace the original Dip Tse Chokling Gompa in Tibet, destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. Home to a small order of Gelukpa monks, the prayer hall enshrines a statue of Sakyamuni in a magnificent jewelled headdress.
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Namgyal Gompa
Namgyal Gompa is the monastery in the Tsuglagkhang Complex. Here it is possible to watch monks debate most afternoons, sealing points of argument with great flourish, a foot stamp and theatrical clap of the hands. The monastery bookshop has a good selection of Buddhist texts; there's also a café.
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Himachal State Museum & Library
About 2.5km west of Scandal Point by the telecommunications mast, the Himachal State Museum & Library has an impressive collection of Kangra and Mughal miniatures, Chamba embroidery, coins and jewellery, temple carvings, paintings of Shimla and weapons - including some massive blunderbusses.
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Gyuto Tantric Gompa
The temporary seat of the Karmapa is the large Gyuto Tantric Gompa in Sidhibari. Public audiences take place here on Wednesday and Saturday at 2.30pm; foreign visitors are welcome but security is tight and bags, phones and cameras are not allowed inside the auditorium.
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Church of St John in the Wilderness
Just off the main road into McLeod, the Church of St John in the Wilderness has handsome stained-glass windows dating from the British era. It's open on Sunday mornings for the weekly service. The cemetery contains the graves of many victims of the 1905 earthquake.
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