Kathmandu

Kathmandu is the capital city of Nepal. Nepal is a country in Asia with very high mountains.

Kathmandu is in a valley. Green hills are all around it.

Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal, in South Asia. It lies in a valley in the foothills of the Himalayas, about 1,350 meters above sea level. The 2021 census counted 862,400 people in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

The photo was taken from the International Space Station. The light gray patch in the middle is the city, and green, forested hills ring the valley around it.

Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, sits in a valley in the Himalayan foothills at an average height of about 1,350 m, near where the Bagmati and Vishnumati rivers meet. Nepal's 2021 census counted 862,400 people in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, figures that City Population and Encyclopaedia Universalis both report.

Universalis describes the city as the country's largest center of trade and business, built up by its Newar merchant families. The photo, taken by the crew of the International Space Station's Expedition 25 with a 400 mm lens, shows the built-up valley in light gray, ringed by green slopes that NASA notes include forest reserves and national parks.

Kathmandu has old squares with palaces and temples with many roofs.

There are also stupas. A stupa is a big white dome with a golden top.

UNESCO's World Heritage Site covers seven groups of monuments in the Kathmandu Valley. Three are Durbar Squares, the old centers of the cities of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, with palaces, temples and public spaces.

Two are Buddhist stupas, large dome-shaped monuments. Swayambhu has the oldest stupa in the valley, and Bauddhanath has the largest stupa in Nepal. The valley's temples have tiered roofs, built mostly of fired brick, mud mortar and timber.

The Kathmandu Valley property, inscribed in 1979 and redefined in 2006, consists of seven monument zones: the Durbar Squares, or urban centers with palaces, temples and public spaces, of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur; and the religious ensembles of Swayambhu, Bauddhanath and two Hindu temple complexes. UNESCO notes that Swayambhu includes the valley's oldest Buddhist monument, a stupa, and Bauddhanath the largest stupa in Nepal.

In Kathmandu's own Durbar Square stands the old palace of the Malla kings, which Universalis calls the city's most remarkable building. UNESCO describes the valley's distinctive tiered temples as mostly fired brick with mud mortar and timber structures, their roofs covered with small overlapping tiles.

For a very long time, people walked on paths to get around Nepal.

Now roads and airplanes link Kathmandu with the rest of the country.

For centuries, people traveled around Nepal mostly on footpaths. In the 1970s new roads were built and air links grew, and Kathmandu became the center of the country's transport network.

Tribhuvan International Airport is on the east side of the city; in the space photo you can see its long runway. In the old quarters, Universalis says, the streets are narrow and lined with brick houses.

Universalis explains that Nepal's transport network was limited for centuries to footpaths, and that development in the 1970s brought new roads and extended air links through Tribhuvan International Airport, making Kathmandu the hub of the national network.

Universalis contrasts the city's two main streets with the old quarters, where narrow lanes wind between brick houses whose doors and windows are decorated with carving. On the map, the airport lies about 5 km east of Kathmandu Durbar Square; its runway shows in the space station photo.

Old houses in Kathmandu have beautifully carved doors and windows.

It is Nepal's biggest place for trade, and it has a university too.

Kathmandu is Nepal's biggest center of trade and business, built up by Newar merchant families, Universalis says. In the old quarters, the doors and windows of many brick houses are decorated with carvings.

The Newars' skill with brick, stone, wood and bronze is famous. Students come to Tribhuvan University, founded in 1959.

Universalis attributes Kathmandu's rise as the country's largest commercial and business center to its Newar merchant families, and contrasts the two main modern streets with old quarters of narrow lanes and brick houses with carved doors and windows. Tribhuvan University was founded in 1959.

UNESCO describes the Newars' urban settlements and buildings, with intricate ornament in brick, stone, timber and bronze, as showing some of the most highly developed craftsmanship in the world, and considers the coexistence of Hinduism and Buddhism in the valley unique. It also warned that the heritage zones remained vulnerable to encroaching development, especially new infrastructure.