Nyatapola Temple

The Nyatapola is a five-storey pagoda in Bhaktapur and the tallest temple in Nepal, built in the early eighteenth century and famed for surviving major earthquakes intact. It rises on a stepped plinth guarded by paired stone figures ascending in strength, from wrestlers to elephants, lions, griffins and finally goddesses. Dedicated to a tantric deity kept from public view, it dominates Taumadhi Square with balanced proportions. Visitors climb the plinth stairs past the guardian sculptures to sit beneath its tiered roofs, taking in a celebrated.