The best-preserved medieval city in South Asia — a car-free Newari kingdom of 55 courtyards, pagoda temples, and potters' wheels turning in squares that look unchanged from the 15th century
Bhaktapur (also Bhadgaon) is the third-largest city in the Kathmandu Valley (pop. 100,000) and by far the best-preserved of the three medieval Newar cities — the historic core is largely traffic-free, the urban fabric of brick lanes and ornate woodcarved temples and palaces is intact, and the local pottery and weaving crafts are still practiced in the squares. Unlike touristed Kathmandu, Bhaktapur functions as a genuine Newari city first and a tourist site second: the medieval courtyards (toles) are living neighborhoods, the Nyatapola Temple is still an active goddess-worship site, and the lo…
Bhaktapur was founded in the 9th century by King Ananda Deva of the Licchavi dynasty and became the capital of the unified Kathmandu Valley Kingdom until 1482 when the dying king Yaksha Malla divided his realm among his sons — creating three separate kingdoms (Kathmandu, Patan/Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur) that spent the next three centuries in a rivalry expressed primarily through competitive temple building. This competition accounts for the extraordinary density of fine architecture in the Kathmandu Valley: each king tried to out-build his brothers. Bhaktapur's building period (roughly 15th–18t…