Leh
The main town of the region, is dominated by Sengge Namgyal's
nine-storey Palace, a building in the grand tradition of Tibetan
architecture, said to have inspired the famous Potala in Lhasa,
which was built half a century later. Above it, on Namgyal Tsemo,
the peak overlooking the town, are the ruins of the earliest
royal residence at Leh, a fort built by King Tashi Namgyal in
the 16th century. The associated temples remain intact, but
they are kept locked except during the morning and evening hours
when a monk toils up the hills from Sankar Gompa to attend to
the butter-lamps in front of the images.
