Boudhanath

Boudha Stupa (Nepali: बौद्ध; Newari: खास्ति चैत्य), Boudhanath Stupa (Standard Tibetan: བྱ་རུང་ཁ་ཤོར།, Wylie: bya rung ka shor), also known as Khasti Chaitya or Khāsa Chaitya, is a stupa and major spiritual landmark seen as the embodiment of the enlightened mind of all the Buddhas, located in Boudha, within the city of Kathmandu, Nepal. Built in the northeast of Kathmandu Valley and originally surrounded by rice paddies, the stupa is said in one text to have given birth to Tibetan Buddhism. It is believed to contain consecrated substances, and its layout as a massive mandala makes it the largest spherical stupa in Nepal and one of the largest in the world.

The present structure was most likely built in the 14th century, although Newar chronicles mention the construction of a stupa here as early as the 5th century. In 1979 the Boudha Stupa became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.