Patan (or Lalitpur) is now one of the largest cities in the kingdom of Nepal, located about 5 km southeast of the capital Kathmandu.
With a history spanning 2,300 years, Patan is one of three major cities in the Kathmandu Valley, with temples featuring "spiky" architecture.
There are many legends surrounding the name Lalitpur. The most popular is the legend of the saint Rato Machhindranath of Assam, India, who was brought to the city by a group of three people representing the three kingdoms of the valley. One of the three was a farmer named Lalit.
The purpose of bringing Saint Rato Machhindranath to the valley was because they had a strong belief that Saint Rato would bring rain to overcome the terrible drought that was going on.
After praying for rain, the farmer Lalit made an effort to help Saint Rato settle in Lalitpur. Many believe that the town was named after the farmer Lalit in his honor, and Pur here means "city" in Nepali.
Lalitpur has a rich artistic and architectural heritage and boasts of a large number of artisans, especially metalworkers and woodworkers.
Lalitpur is also known as the "city of art". It has a large number of temples, pagodas, stupas, and monasteries with distinctive architecture.
Thanks to the stupas, researchers were able to easily identify Lalitpur as one of the oldest structures. The stupas still retain inscriptions dating back to the 14th century or earlier.
Patan is a major Buddhist center with more than 1,200 Buddhist monuments of different shapes and sizes scattered in and around the city.
Among them, Durbar Square is recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site. This cultural heritage is considered the former royal palace of Nepal with full of ancient palaces, temples and tombs.
The entire heritage site consists of three areas like Mul Chowk, Sundari Chowk and Keshav Narayan Chowk.
The buildings within this complex are some of the greatest achievements of the Malla dynasty. Among the temples here, the most prominent is the Krishna Temple dedicated to Lord Krishna.
The temple was built by Siddhi Narsingha Malla in 1637. The three-storey structure of the temple shows the unique Shikhara style.
The first floor houses a statue of Lord Krishna. It is one of the most visited temples in the city and is crowded with thousands of devotees during the Janmashtami festival.
The Golden Temple located near Durbar Square was built in the 12th century and is considered the most "expensive" location in the city.
The Golden Temple has a three-roofed temple architecture, a bronze-colored lobby, and two lions standing guard at the entrance.
Every year, tourists and Buddhists flock to see the unique temple architecture and learn about the legends that are passed down here. This is what creates the hustle and bustle of the ancient city located in this valley.
(According to MASK)
