Phugtal Monastery, Zanskar, Jammu & Kashmir India

Phugtal Monastery or Phugtal Gompa (often transliterated as Phuktal) is a monastery in south-eastern Zanskar, Ladakh in northern India.Founded by Gangsem Sherap Sampo in the early 12th century, the monastery is a unique construction built into the cliffside like a honeycomb. It located on the mouth of a cave on the cliff face of a lateral gorge of a major tributary of the Lungnak (Lingti-Tsarap) River.Home to about 70 monks the monastery has a library and prayer rooms. A stone tablet reminds of Alexander Csoma de Kőrös author of the first English-Tibetan dictionary who explored Ladakh and visited in 1826-27.