Dzong · Buddhist
Wangdue Phodrang Dzong
Administrative and monastic seat of Wangdue Phodrang·Founded 1638 CE; destroyed by fire 2012; rebuilt and reconsecrated 2022·Wangdue Phodrang
Rebuilt from the ground up after the 2012 fire and reconsecrated in 2022, on its ridge above the river confluence.
Dedicated to
Administrative and monastic seat of Wangdue Phodrang
Period
Founded 1638 CE; destroyed by fire 2012; rebuilt and reconsecrated 2022
Neighborhood
Above the Punatsangchhu confluence
Wangdue Phodrang Dzong stands on a ridge above the meeting of the Punatsangchhu and the Dang Chhu, guarding the road south and west. It was founded in 1638 under Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, and for three and a half centuries it was one of the most important dzongs in the country.
The fire and the rebuilding
On 24 June 2012 the dzong burned. The fire took almost the whole structure; relics and religious treasures were carried out, but the building itself was lost.
It was rebuilt on the same site over the following decade — traditional rammed earth, timber and stone, with the layout of the original — and reconsecrated in 2022. What stands today is therefore new work in an old form, and worth seeing as that: one of the largest traditional building projects Bhutan has undertaken in living memory.
Visiting
The dzong is on the highway between Thimphu and Trongsa, so it fits a driving day rather than needing one of its own. The village of Rinchengang — a settlement of stone masons — is directly across the valley, and the two are usually seen together.
Coda
Continue the Pilgrimage
Help us get it right
Know Wangdue Phodrang Dzong better than we do?
We write from research and reporting, and the ground changes faster than we can keep up. If something here is out of date, or you have been and would tell it differently, we would rather hear it.