Lamayuru Monastery

Lamayuru Monastery, also called Yuru Gompa, sits on a steep mountain about 127 km from Leh, between Bodhkarbu and Kha-la-che, surrounded by moon-like terrain. Among the oldest and largest monasteries in Ladakh, it belongs to the Red Hat sect and is known locally as Tharpa Ling, the 'place of freedom'. It once housed 400 monks; about 50 live there now. Its collection includes thangkas, murals, scriptures and statues.

Records say a Ladakhi king built the first structures in the 10th century and gave them to Rinchen Zangbo. In the 16th century King Jamyang Namgyal, cured of leprosy by a lama, granted it privileges such as tax exemption and made the land around it a sanctuary. Legend holds that Naropa found the site where a lake had dried and built the Singh Ghang temple; one of his five first buildings survives.