The central plaza of Thimphu, anchored by a four-faced clock tower decorated in traditional Bhutanese style. The square is the main hub for festivals, public events, and the daily flow of city life. Surrounding streets hold the main shopping areas — local clothing shops, handicraft stalls, and snack vendors. In the evenings, the plaza fills with young Bhutanese socialising, and during the Thimphu Tshechu festival it becomes a performance venue. A good reference point for orientation in the city centre.
Clock Tower Square
Thimphu's central gathering point and town square
A story
Clock Tower Square was built in 2002 and is the closest thing Thimphu has to a proper town square. Unlike most Himalayan capitals, Thimphu doesn't have a historic market square; this plaza was constructed specifically to give the city a public focal point. The four clocks on the tower each face a cardinal direction — a design borrowed from European civic architecture and given a Bhutanese makeover with traditional painted carvings.