Barkhor Old Town: Lhasa's historic heart of culture, commerce and harmony

With the bazaar at its core, Barkhor Old Town covers an area of 1.33 square kilometers and is the birthplace of Lhasa.

Barkhor Bazaar is a circular street with a circumference of about 1,000 meters. It features more than 400 shopping malls and shops of various sizes, five temples and 25 residential courtyards of different scales.

Strolling along Barkhor Bazaar is like walking through a thousand years of history. In the 7th century, the Tubo King Songtsen Gampo married Princess Wencheng and Princess Bhrikuti Devi, and built the Ramoche Temple and the Jokhang Temple. This led to the development of a region that integrated culture, commerce, religion and residential life, establishing the original layout of Barkhor Old Town.

Today, Barkhor Old Town features 56 ancient courtyards, with eight national protected cultural heritage sites and 10 items recognized as national intangible cultural heritage. It is home to more than 71,000 residents from a number of ethnic groups, including Tibetan, Han, Hui and Monba people. For thousands of years, these diverse ethnic groups have lived harmoniously in this area.