Matho Museum

Matho Museum is a small monastic museum located within Matho Monastery in Matho village, about 26 km southeast of Leh, Ladakh. Belonging to the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, the monastery was founded in the 16th century. The museum preserves a collection of thangkas, statues, ritual objects, masks and manuscripts, some over 400 years old, offering insight into Ladakhi Buddhist heritage.

Visitors can expect a compact museum housed inside the Matho Monastery complex overlooking the Indus Valley. The display includes ancient thangkas, Buddhist statues, ceremonial masks, robes, weapons and manuscripts used in monastic rituals. The setting is a traditional whitewashed monastery building with courtyards and prayer halls, surrounded by stark Ladakhi mountains and the village of Matho.

Matho Monastery, which houses the museum, was founded in the 16th century by Lama Dugpa Dorje and is the only monastery in Ladakh belonging to the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. The museum preserves artifacts, thangkas and ritual objects, some more than 400 years old, reflecting the monastery's long monastic history.

The museum showcases the religious and cultural heritage of the Sakya sect of Tibetan Buddhism, displaying thangkas, masks, robes and scriptures used in daily monastic life and during the annual Matho Nagrang Festival, which features oracular performances by monks.