Kathmandu Durbar Square

Kathmandu Durbar Square was the seat of the Malla and Shah kings for more than 500 years, with roots tracing to the Licchavi period and its major development under the Malla dynasty between the 12th and 18th centuries.

Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, the square lost several historic structures, including the centuries-old Kasthamandap, in the 2015 earthquake, and restoration work has continued since.

The Kumari Ghar on the square houses the Kumari, a young girl venerated as a living goddess, who appears at her window and is drawn through the city on a chariot at Indra Jatra in September, the square's largest festival. Kasthamandap, the timber rest house that gives Kathmandu its name and that collapsed in 2015, was rebuilt using traditional joinery and reopened in 2022. Foreign visitors pay an entry fee, which funds the continuing restoration. Swayambhunath is about half an hour on foot to the west.