Tsemo Castle

Text and Photographs by Mr. Sachin Vaidya

Leh Palace (Lehchen Pelkhar) is the most popular tourist destination in Ladakh. Ladakh is an union territory in India. However, Tsemo Castle, even though near to Leh Palace, is not visited by many tourists. Leh town is at an altitude of 11,562 ft.

There are two ways of approaching Tsemo Castle. Firstly, tourists can visit Leh Palace and then walk / drive to Tsemo Castle. The route to Leh Palace has been explained in my post (within the same blog) on Leh Palace. The second route is walking from Sankar Gompa. (Buddhist monastery is called Gompa in Ladakh). This is a long route and can be explored after minimum two nights acclimatization in Leh.

Following is the deity at Tsemo Gompa:





Tsemo Gompa and Tsemo Castle are adjacent to each other. They are visible from terrace of Leh Palace. Tsemo Gompa is also called Namgyal Tsemo Gompa.



Namgyal Tsemo Gompa, or the Temple of the Guardian Deities, was built by Gyalpo Tashi Namgyal. Tsemo Castle was the first royal residence to be built in Leh.

The following early morning photograph shows Tsemo Castle at the extreme left of the landscape.




Leh Palace (left) and Tsemo Castle (right) can be seen from this photograph shot from Leh town. Tsemo Castle is at little higher elevation than Leh Palace.




My first visit, with friends Pradyot and Siddharth, was early morning walk towards Tsemo Castle and Gompa during May 2010. As the monuments were closed early morning, we had an outside view.













Ruins of fortifications could also be observed.


My second solo visit to Tsemo Castle and Gompa was during June 2018. After visiting Sankar Gompa, I walked to Tsemo Castle. The road is not used by tourists and mainly used by locals.
History of Namgyal Tsemo Temple is described on the board.


I could visit only a temple at Tsemo Gompa and could not visit any other part of Tsemo Gompa and Tsemo Castle. Near the entrance of the temple, a Buddhist monk appeared from nowhere and after collecting entry ticket, he vanished. If he would have around, I would have asked him regarding visit to other parts of Gompa and Castle.







I had a complete round of the place but could not find any way to enter Tsemo Castle which was visible in the above photograph.
The whitewashed Castle appeared to be maintained minus entry to tourists.


Ruins of other parts of Castle were visible on the hill.





It was time to bid adieu to the Castle - visible as white spot atop a hill.



Comments

  1. Paritosh PawarDecember 12, 2021 at 6:58 AM

    Beautiful photographs with in-depth information about Tsemo Castle, Leh. Thanks Sir, for taking us on such enchanting virtual tours, as always! Your blogs are a visual delight!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sachin VaidyaDecember 12, 2021 at 9:08 PM

      Sometimes it is sad to see historical places not maintained well.

      Delete

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