Nyatapola Temple

Nyatapola is one of the most perfectly proportioned buildings in the Kathmandu Valley. It rises above Taumadhi Square in Bhaktapur to about 33 metres: five stepped brick plinths, then five diminishing roofs carried on carved wooden struts, the whole tapering to a slender peak. The name in Nepal Bhasa says exactly what it is, "five-storeyed roof". From the square the temple fills the sky above the surrounding brick houses.

The stair is the temple's most famous feature. Its sides are lined with pairs of stone guardians, each pair said to be ten times stronger than the one below it: at the bottom the legendary wrestlers Jai and Pratap, then elephants, then lions, then griffins, and finally two goddesses in the form of a lioness and a tigress. The deity they protect is Siddhi Lakshmi, a tantric goddess and the ancestral deity of Bhaktapur's Malla kings; her image is hidden, and only the temple priests may enter the shrine.

King Bhupatindra Malla commissioned the temple, and it went up with remarkable speed between December 1701 and July 1702. The builders used well over a million bricks, sal timber and more than 1,500 stones, and hung over 500 small bells from the roofs. The design has proved its worth: Nyatapola came through the great earthquake of 1934 and the earthquake of April 2015, which destroyed dozens of monuments elsewhere in Bhaktapur, with its stepped base and layered roofs helping it ride out the shaking. Beside it on the same square stands the Bhairavnath temple, and the town around them keeps its Newar crafts and festivals, from pottery to the spring celebration of Bisket Jatra.

Getting there

Bhaktapur lies in the eastern Kathmandu Valley, about 13 km from Kathmandu; Madhyapur Thimi, the neighbouring town, is about 4 km away. Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM) is around 7.5 km away. Taumadhi Square is in the centre of the old town, and the historic core is best explored on foot.