Pottery Square

Bhaktapur’s two Pottery Squares are world renowned and so are the many potters that can be seen working there on their traditional wooden wheels. The first Pottery Square is located at Talako, some 500m to the southwest of Taumadhi Square, on the way to the Trolley Bus Terminal. Here visitors will find potters giving shape and size to lumps of black clay, and earthenware they make ranges from such household goods as pots and jars to cheap souvenir items as animals and birds. As pottery in Bhaktapur is a family job, visitors may chance upon the entire family doing their parts of work. Right within the complex is a two-floored temple that houses an ornate image of Ganesh, erected in a very traditional way. The pagoda dates back to the 14th century.

Pottery is very clearly what this square is all about. Towards the southern part of Durbar Square lies the pottery square where thousands of potteries are made. Under shady open verandahs or tin-roofed sheds all around the square, potters' wheels spin and clay is moulded. In the square itself, thousands of finished pots sit out in the sun to dry, and are sold in the stalls around the square.