Tiger’s Nest — Bhutan Paro Taktsang
999.00 د.إ
The Tiger’s Nest monastery (Paro Taktsang) in Bhutan photographed from the cliff path lookout — the four monastery buildings clinging to the vertical 900-metre cliff face above the Paro Valley, prayer flags streaming in the Himalayan wind.
Description
Paro Taktsang — the Tiger’s Nest — is Bhutan’s most sacred monastery, built in 1692 at the site where Guru Rinpoche is said to have flown on the back of a tigress and meditated in a cave for three months. The monastery complex is built into the face of a 900-metre cliff, accessible only by a 2.5-hour steep trail. The standard viewpoint — a cliff path at approximately the same elevation as the monastery — provides the complete monastery-in-cliff-face perspective that no other angle can achieve. This photograph was made at the viewpoint in mid-morning when the cliff face is in full sun and the monastery’s white-painted walls are at maximum luminosity against the dark granite cliff. The Himalayan prayer flags (lungta) strung from the cliff edges stream in the strong valley-channelled wind, creating dynamic movement against the static monastery architecture. The Paro Valley’s cultivated floor, 1,000 metres below, is visible through the valley haze.
