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Cory Richards

During a quiet moment in his palace in Lo Manthang, Jigme Singhi Palbar Bista responds to email and text messages over a cup of tea. Jigme is the 26th king of a dynasty founded in the 15th century, but his royal title is unofficial. Nepal dissolved the monarchy in 2008.

A prayer group of elderly Lo-pa women meets in a hall outside Jampa Lhakhang, a temple in Lo Manthang, to eat porridge and recite mantras. Having lived through a time of great change, their generation may include some of the last permanent residents of Mustang.

Novice monks do laundry outside the living quarters of the Shakya Chyodi monastery in Lo Manthang. In years past, the second son in a family was expected to join a monastery and serve as a monk, but today many leave Mustang.

A herd of goats fills a street in the village of Tsarang. With new roads opening up the region, access to inexpensive foods from outside of Mustang has reduced the need for local livestock, eroding yet another pillar of traditional culture.

Viewed from the roof of the king’s palace, the walled city of Lo Manthang is a maze of stone-paved streets and of rooftops lined with firewood. The red walls of Thubchen Lhakhang can be seen on the left, while those of Jampa Lhakhang appear on the right.

A crumbling palace in the village of Tsarang perches on a hilltop overlooking the Kali Gandaki Gorge, with peaks of the Annapurna massif rising in the distance. A severe earthquake in 2015 damaged this and other structures in Mustang.

Novice monk Ngwang Phinjo holds a fading treasure from Mustang’s past. The canvas painting, called a thangka, depicts a deity holding the moon, which contains an image of a rabbit. Possibly used for personal meditation or monastic instruction, such paintings risk deterioration from time and exposure to the elements.

Murals depicting Buddhist stories and teachings decorate the basement wall of the Jampa Lhakhang, a temple in Lo Manthang. Constructed in the 15th century, the five-foot, four-inch-thick walls were built with longevity in mind.

Clubs and swords hang in a chapel along with a mummified hand and masks of protector deities that counter ignorance, intruders, and evil. According to one story, the hand belonged to an enemy who attacked the kingdom.

A young Lo-pa girl waits outside while her family unloads Chinese goods at their shop near Lo Manthang. Motorcycles have largely replaced horses in Mustang, once known as the Kingdom of Lo, where horsemanship and horse culture were long revered.