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Lomanthang ( ne, लोमान्थाङ) is a
rural municipality A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries. These include: * Rural municipalities in Canada, a type of municipal status in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, ...
in Mustang district in
Gandaki Province Gandaki Province ( ne, गण्डकी प्रदेश ) ), is one of the seven federal provinces established by the current constitution of Nepal which was promulgated on 20 September 2015. Pokhara is the province's capital city. It borde ...
of western
Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
. It is located at the northern end of the district, bordering the
Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of ...
of China to the north and Dalome rural municipality of
Mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once- domesticated animals, the ...
in the south. ''Lo'' is the northern two-thirds of Mustang district,
culturally Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...
and
linguistically Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
influenced by Tibet, while the southern third is called ''Thak'', the homeland of
Thakali people The Thakali are an ethnolinguistic group originating from the Thak Khola region of Mustang District in the Dhaulagiri zone of Nepal. Thak-sat-se is the traditional area of the Thakali community, which lies over Mustang District, the valley of ...
who speak a different language and have a synthesis of Tibetan and Nepalese culture. Recently a series of at least twelve caves were discovered north of
Annapurna Annapurna (; ne, अन्नपूर्ण) is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the tenth highest mountain in the world at above sea level and is well known for the diffic ...
and near the village, decorated with ancient
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
paintings and set in sheer cliffs at an elevation of . The paintings show Newari influence, dating to approximately the 13th century, and also contain
Tibetan script The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system (''abugida'') of Indic origin used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. It has also been used for some non-Tibetic langua ...
s executed in ink, silver and gold and pre-Christian era pottery shards. Explorers found stupas, decorative art and paintings depicting various forms of the
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
, often with disciples, supplicants and attendants, with some mural paintings showing
sub-tropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north a ...
themes containing palm trees, billowing Indian textiles and birds.


History

Lo Manthang was the walled capital of the ''Kingdom of Lo'' from its founding in 1380 by ''Ame Pal'' who oversaw construction of the city wall and many of the still-standing structures. After the Shahs of Gorkha forged Nepal out of numerous
petty kingdoms A petty kingdom is a kingdom described as minor or "petty" (from the French 'petit' meaning small) by contrast to an empire or unified kingdom that either preceded or succeeded it (e.g. the numerous kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England unified into t ...
in the 18th century, Lo became a dependency but kept its hereditary rulers. This arrangement continued as long as Nepal remained a
kingdom Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
, until the country was declared a republic in 2008 and
Jigme Dorje Palbar Bista Jigme Dorje Palbar Bista (Tibetan: འཇིག་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེ་དཔལ་འབར།, Nepali: जिग्मे दोर्जे पलवर विष्ट; 1930– 16 December 2016) was the unofficial King of Mus ...
(c.1933–2016) was stripped of his title. His protector
King Gyanendra Gyanendra Shah ( ne, ज्ञानेन्द्र शाह, born 7 July 1947) is a former monarch who was the last King of Nepal, reigning from 2001 to 2008. As a child, he was briefly king from 1950 to 1951, when his grandfather, Tribhuva ...
suffered the same fate, however the ''raja'' or ''gyelpo'' of Mustang was 25th in a direct line of rulers dating back to 1380 AD. Gyanendra was only the eleventh Shah ruler since
Prithvi Narayan Shah Maharajadhiraj Prithvi Narayan Shah (1723–1775) ( ne, श्री ५ बडामहाराजाधिराज पृथ्वीनारायण शाह देव) was the last ruler of the Gorkha Kingdom and first monarch of the ...
conquered Kathmandu in 1768. More prosaically, Lo Manthang became a village development committee in Mustang district of
Dhawalagiri zone Dhaulagiri ( ne, धौलागिरी अञ्चल ) was one of the fourteen zones which Nepal was divided into for administrative purposes, prior to the September 10, 2015 adoption of a new Constitution, which divided the nation instead ...
. The
1991 census A nationwide census, commonly known as Census 1991, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday 21 April 1991. This was the 19th UK census. ''Census 1991'' was organised by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys in England and Wales, t ...
counted 876 people living in 178 households in the VDC. The population includes ethnic Lhobas.Gopal Sharma
Explorers find ancient caves and paintings in Nepal
Reuters, May 3, 2007, ''Accessed October 28, 2012''


Administration

The total area of the Lo Manthang rural municipality is and the total population according to the 2011 census is 1899. The rural municipality is divided into 5 wards. Previously Lomanthang was a village development committee which was upgraded into a rural municipality merging adjoining VDCs of Chhoser and Chhonhup. The rural municipality came into existence on 10 March 2017, fulfilling the requirement of the new
Constitution of Nepal 2015 Constitution of Nepal 2015 ( ne, नेपालको संविधान २०७२) is the present governing Constitution of Nepal. Nepal is governed according to the Constitution which came into effect on 20 September 2015, replacing the ...
when the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration replaced all old VDCs and municipalities into 753 new local level bodies.


Transport

Lo Manthang is by unpaved road from a
border crossing Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...
into
Zhongba County Drongpa County or Zhongba County (; ) is a county of Shigatse Prefecture in China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Located in the western part of Central Tibet (sometimes referred to as "western Tibet"), it is the birthplace of the Tsangpo River (Brah ...
of
Shigatse Prefecture Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê (; Nepali Language, Nepali: ''सिगात्से''), is a prefecture-level city of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area of jurisdiction, with an area of , correspon ...
,
TAR Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...
. This road continues about from the border to
China National Highway 219 China National Highway 219 (G219; Chinese: '' Guódào219'') is a highway which runs along the entire western and southern border of the People's Republic of China, from Kom-Kanas Mongolian ethnic township in Xinjiang to Dongxing in Guangxi. ...
, which follows the valley of the
Yarlung Tsangpo River The Yarlung Tsangpo, also called Yarlung Zangbo () is the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is the longest river of Tibet and the fifth longest in China. The upper section is also called D ...
. The Government of Nepal has built a road north along the
Kali Gandaki River The Gandaki River, also known as the Narayani and the Gandak, is one of the major rivers in Nepal and a left bank tributary of the Ganges in India. Its total catchment area amounts to , most of it in Nepal. In the Nepal Himalayas, it is not ...
, to within of Lo Manthang. There are also scheduled flights from
Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
and Pokhara to
Jomsom Airport Jomsom Airport is a domestic airport located in Jomsom serving Mustang District, a district in Gandaki Province in Nepal. It serves as the gateway to Mustang District that includes Jomsom, Kagbeni, Mustang, Kagbeni, Tangbe, and Lo Manthang, and ...
, located south of Lo Manthang.


Tourism and access

The village is noted for its tall whitewashed mud-brick walls, ''
gompa A Gompa or Gönpa ( "remote place", Sanskrit ''araṇya''), also known as ling (), is a Buddhist ecclesiastical fortification of learning, lineage and sādhanā that may be understood as a conflation of a fortification, a vihara and a universit ...
s'' and the ''Raja's'' or Royal or King's Palace, a nine-cornered, five-story structure built around 1400. There are four major temples: Jampa Lhakhang or Jampa Gompa, the oldest, built in the early 15th century and also known as the "God house"; Thubchen Gompa, a huge, red assembly hall and gompa built in the late 15th century and located just southwest of Jampa Gompa; Chodey Gompa, now the main city gompa; and the Choprang Gompa, which is popularly known as the "New Gompa". Even though foreign visitors have been allowed in the kingdom since 1992, tourism to Upper Mustang remains limited, with just over 2000 foreign tourists in 2008. The Nepalese Department of Immigration requires foreign visitors to obtain a special permit, which costs $50 per day per person, and liaison (guide) to protect local tradition from outside influence as well as to protect their environment.


2015 Earthquake

The
April 2015 Nepal earthquake The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) killed 8,964 people and injured 21,952 more. It occurred at on Saturday, 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of 7.8 Mw or 8.1 Ms and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of X (''Extreme ...
caused multiple cracks in the 600-year-old Lo Manthang Royal Palace.Local people have reconstructed Lomanthang Palace on their own
nepalnow.org, 31 October 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2018.


Gallery

File:Lo Manthang Royal Palace.JPG, The Royal Palace in Lo Manthang File:Lomanthang.jpg, Lo Manthang File:Lo Manthang.jpg, The settlement of Lo Manthang File:Photos of Mustang, Nepal Tourism Center 02.jpg, Nepal Tourism Center, Upper Mustang Mustang-Lo Manthang-42-Jampa Lhakhang-gje.jpg, Jampa Lhakhang Mustang-Lo Manthang-Laden-02-2015-gje.jpg, Shop Mustang-Lo Manthang-Choerten-12-LKW-Wrack-2015-gje.jpg, Choerten Mustang-Lo Manthang-Lotus Holiday Inn-12-Gaeste bei Totenfeier-2015-gje.jpg, Lotus Holiday Inn


See also

*
Upper Mustang Upper Mustang (formerly Kingdom of Lo) is an upper part (Northern area) of Mustang District, which is located in Nepal. The ''Upper Mustang'' was a restricted kingdom until 1992 which makes it one of the most preserved regions in the world, with ...
* Mustang District * Mustang Caves *
Kali Gandaki River The Gandaki River, also known as the Narayani and the Gandak, is one of the major rivers in Nepal and a left bank tributary of the Ganges in India. Its total catchment area amounts to , most of it in Nepal. In the Nepal Himalayas, it is not ...


References


Bibliography

*Maïe Kitamura, ''La cité fortifiée de Lo Manthang, Mustang, Nord du Népal''. Paris, Éditions Recherches, 2011. 214 plans & drawings, photography.


External links

*
UN map of the municipalities of Mustang District
on Nova (American TV program), Nova (series)
Lo-manthang Photo Gallery
{{Authority control Rural municipalities in Mustang District Populated places in Mustang District China–Nepal border crossings Hill stations in Nepal Rural municipalities of Nepal established in 2017