Alchi Monastery

Alchi is an eleventh-century monastery complex on the banks of the Indus River, renowned for containing the oldest surviving Buddhist mural paintings in Ladakh. Unlike most Ladakhi gompas, Alchi was built on flat ground rather than a commanding rock, giving its cluster of temples and chortens a more intimate character. The Sumtsek temple within the complex contains three-storey wooden statues adorned with intricate miniature paintings in the Kashmiri style.