Central Asian Museum

Leh


One of Leh's most remarkable buildings, this tapered four-storey stone tower is a modern construction based on a historic Lhasa mansion and built on the site of an old caravan camp. The museum looks at Leh's role in Silk Road trade, with rooms focused on Ladakh, Chinese Turkestan and Tibet.

The museum hides in a courtyard that also contains Leh's oldest mosque and a traditionally styled Ladakhi show-kitchen where you can order lunch. Access is via the lane next to the SBI Bank ATM on Main Bazaar, or down the Chutey Rantak side alley lined with bakers and the 500-year old sacred tree known as the Datun Sahib.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Leh attractions

1. Jamia Masjid

0.05 MILES

In the heart of Leh's market area, the first mosque on this site was built in 1666–67, sealing a political agreement between Ladakh's then ruler Deldan…

2. Chokhang Vihara

0.06 MILES

With its coppiced willows, the large courtyard of this 20th-century temple offers an oasis of relatively meditative calm just steps from the bustle of…

3. Guru Lhakhang

0.07 MILES

Restored in 2004 but often locked, this 17th-century shrine to Padmasambhava sits on the edge of the Old Town palace ridge, directly below the palace and…

4. Leh Old Town

0.09 MILES

Behind Leh’s central Jamia Masjid, winding alleys and stairways burrow between and beneath a series of old mud-brick Ladakhi houses and eroded chortens…

5. LAMO

0.11 MILES

This arts-media trust occupies an adjoining pair of 17th-century Ladakhi mansions, one of which was the home of the munshi (king's secretary) and thus one…

6. Leh Palace

0.11 MILES

Bearing a passing similarity to the Potala Palace in Lhasa (Tibet), this nine-storey dun-coloured edifice is Leh's dominant structure and architectural…

7. Chamba Lhakhang

0.14 MILES

The early 15th-century Chamba Lhakhang was one of a trio of Maitreya ('future Buddha') temples built in Leh by King Draspa Bum-lde. The obvious…

8. Chandazik Gompa

0.18 MILES

Till the 1950s, this temple was Leh's main Buddhist place of public worship. It features internal murals celebrating the pantheon of 1000 Buddhas, of…

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