Mul Chowk

The palace's central courtyard, Mul Chowk , is the largest and oldest of the palace's three main chowks (squares). Unfortunately, it's open haphazardly at best, generally when you slip the caretakers some baksheesh (a tip). Two stone lions guard the entrance to the courtyard, which was built by Siddhinarsingh Malla, destroyed in a fire in 1662 and rebuilt by Srinivasa Malla in 1665-66. At the centre of the courtyard stands the small, gilded Bidya Temple.

The palace's three Taleju temples stand around the courtyard. The doorway to the Shrine of Taleju or Taleju Bhawani, on the southern side of the courtyard, is flanked by the statues of the river goddesses Ganga, on a tortoise, and Jamuna, on a carved makura (mythical crocodile).