Wanla Monastery

Wanla Gompa crowns the ridge above Wanla village in Ladakh, 13 kilometres south-east of Lamayuru, of which it is a sub-monastery. It sits within the scant remains of a medieval castle that the Ladakhi chronicles credit to King Lhachen Ngaglug, probably in the 12th century, and the temple was added at its heart in the 14th century. That date gives Wanla special interest, as it falls in an obscure stretch of Ladakhi history between the latest Alchi monuments of the early 13th century and the rise of the Ladakhi kingdom in the early 1400s.

The small three-storeyed Avalokitesvara temple is remarkably well preserved and is among the earliest surviving Drigung Kagyu prayer halls in Ladakh. Its main image shows Avalokitesvara with eleven heads. A side building was added in the 1980s. A caretaker monk sent from Lamayuru performs the daily rituals and opens the temple to visitors, and the Achi Association is restoring it.