Likir Monastery

Likir Monastery stands on a small hill above Likir village at about 3,700 metres, some 52 km west of Leh and about 9.5 km north of the Srinagar-Leh highway, between Basgo and Alchi. Lama Duwang Chosje founded it in 1065 on the orders of the Ladakhi king Lhachen Gyalpo; in the 15th century it was refounded under the Gelug order. It once lay on a busy trade route to Leh.

A long inscription in black ink on one wall recorded the monastery's history and noted its repair after a fire in the reign of Tsewang Namgyal II in the 18th century. Below the monastery the scholar A. H. Francke described a large chorten painted inside with Tsongkhapa and other lamas, whose lower room was said to be the earliest temple on the site. Around 120 monks live here today, and the monastery school teaches in Hindi, Sanskrit and English.