The Dzong at Paro
A dzong is a fortress-monastery that serves
both as a civil administrative center and as a monastic home for a
community of monks. Most dzongs were built in the mid-1600s
to protect the inhabited valleys from invasion by Tibet.
The Paro dzong was started in 1644 on the order of Shabdrung Ngawang
Namgyal, the unifier of modern day Bhutan. Unlike most
of the other dzongs in Bhutan, it survived the massive 1897 earthquake
mostly unscathed, though it was damaged by fire in 1907.
The Paro Tsechu (Festival) [see
other photographs in this series]
takes place at this Dzong.
Photo taken: April 15, 2003
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