Key Monastery – The Crown Jewel of Spiti
The grand and majestic Key Monastery, nestled on a hill above the Key Village in Spiti Valley, is an important Buddhist centre. It attracts tourists and astrophotographers alike, who can stay in the monastery guest house and enjoy the local food.
Key Monastery is built on a hill and all the structures are block shaped, a native architectural design element which can be seen in most of the monasteries in the region. The block structures are mostly quarters where the monks reside.
The Gompa (place of meditation) has a school for young children from the village as well as young monks. The Rajkiya Prathmik Vidyalaya (government primary school) was established in 1984.
Dating back to the 11th century, the monastery is over a thousand years old and an important learning centre for young lamas. During their free time, the lamas can be seen engaging in a variety of sports.
There is a small trail that leads to the top of the hill behind the monastery. The hike takes about thirty minutes to complete and offers a vantage of a bird’s eye view of the Gompa.
The monastery kitchen is a busy area and is kept fully stocked because of the extreme weather conditions. The monks eat simple food. Tsampa (a local Tibetan flour which is prepared by mixing it with other ingredients, like yak cheese) is served with butter tea in the morning.
Tourists can stay in the monastery guest house for Rs.500 a night, which includes all meals. They can join the lamas in the temple for their morning prayer along with breakfast. Rice, green peas, potatoes and tingmos (Tibetan bread) are served for dinner.
Hot and tasty herbal tea is served in the kitchen of the old temple premise. Photography is strictly prohibited inside all the temple rooms of Key.
The monastery is a sight to behold when the sun goes down and the lights are turned up. Due to the high altitude, the Milky Way is also visible in the region between the months of June to September and therefore, a keen destination for astrophotography.
The lead image on top shows the Key Monastery which is the largest monastery in the Spiti valley and houses about 100 monks, including young lamas. It is located at an altitude of 4166m and is about 12 kms from the town of Kaza.
Photography and reporting by Atiqur Rahman, a Delhi-based photographer who hails from Nagaland.