“This open square is a living workshop where potters spin clay by hand and lay out thousands of pots to dry in the sun, as they have for centuries.”
About Pottery Square
Pottery has been a defining craft of Bhaktapur for centuries, practised by specific communities who have passed the skills down the generations. Pottery Square remains the working centre of this tradition, where the whole process unfolds in the open, from throwing the clay to sun-drying and firing. Despite modernisation, the square continues as a genuine production hub and a symbol of Bhaktapur's living heritage.
What Pottery Square actually is
Pottery Square in Bhaktapur is an open square where the city's traditional potters have shaped clay for generations, its ground often covered with rows of freshly made pots drying in the sun. A living workshop rather than a museum, it offers a vivid, hands-on glimpse of a craft tradition that has continued largely unchanged for centuries.
Pottery Square in Bhaktapur is an open square where the city's traditional potters have shaped clay for generations, its ground often covered with rows of freshly made pots drying in the sun.
A Square That Spins With Clay
Bhaktapur has long been a centre of pottery, and this square is the heart of the trade, where potters sit at their wheels turning out bowls, vases, water jars and the small clay lamps and figurines used in festivals and worship. Across the open space, thousands of pots are laid out to dry under the sun before firing in traditional kilns nearby. Visitors can watch the potters at work and even try their hand at the wheel.
The Experience
You wander among potters bent over spinning wheels, watching wet clay rise into shape, and across grounds carpeted with rows of drying pots in the sun. The potters are happy to demonstrate, and you can try the wheel yourself. The sights, the dust and the rhythm of the craft make it an absorbing, authentic experience, and finished pots make characterful souvenirs bought direct from the makers.
Why It Matters
Pottery Square preserves and showcases one of the living traditional crafts of the Kathmandu Valley, central to Bhaktapur's identity as a city of artisans. As a working production site rather than a staged attraction, it offers an authentic encounter with a centuries-old craft and supports the community that keeps it alive.
Pottery Square preserves and showcases one of the living traditional crafts of the Kathmandu Valley, central to Bhaktapur's identity as a city of artisans.
Why Visit
A living potters' square in Bhaktapur, where artisans spin clay by hand and dry thousands of pots in the sun, a vivid glimpse of a centuries-old craft.
✦ Insider Tips
- 1
Watch the potters at their wheels and the pots drying in the sun.
- 2
Buy pots and clay figurines direct from the makers.
- 3
Dry days are best, as wet weather halts the work.
