This site provides a free access to an extensive library of pictures concerning the heritage of Ladakh. In its current form, the website is in a beta version, in order to test different options. This phase should last until spring 2017.

For this debuts phase, it hosts pictures pertaining to the fortifications and temple ruins of the region. This repository will be improved over time: further categories of heritage sites will be adeed, along with proper descriptions, maps, coordinates, etc…

The purpose of this catalogue is to encourage future studies in Ladakh, by unlocking access to a comprehensive databank about its heritage. Pictures are made freely available to all under a Creative Commons licence: you can download, use and publish them as you wish, for as long as their source is properly cited. My only request would be to be kept informed about the publications in which they are used as a reciprocal gesture, regardless of their format or content – I am not a control freak, I will not interfere with your choices.

I hope you enjoy this website, and I thank you in advance for your understanding if during this starting phase the browsing is not as smooth as one could wish for.

I carried out extensive surveys in Ladakh in order to document its architectural remains, village after village, valley after valley. To this date, I covered about five hundred sites, spread all over the region. This effort made me witness a variety of architectural techniques and features, that point to a diversity of influences that goes well beyond the simple “Little Tibet” image we commonly have of Ladakh. Some of these sites are on the other hand in remote places, and at times in difficultly accessible locations, a reminder that Ladakhis have since times immemorial used the extreme topography of their country to their advantage. For these reasons, I decided to unlock this data, so as to enable a new generation of scholars to undertake studies about the rich and vivid heritage of the region.