Hidden by the alleyways leading south from the curving road to Taumadhi Tole, Potters’ Sq is exactly what you would expect – a public square full of treadle-power wheels and rows of clay pots drying in the sun. Several buildings were damaged by the 2015 earthquake, but life – and pottery – in the square continues as normal. This is the centre of Bhaktapur’s ceramic industry, and it’s a fascinating place to wander around. Several shops sell the finished article, and you can see the firing process at the back of the square, which is lined with mud-covered straw kilns.
On the northern side of the square a small hillock is topped by a shady pipal tree and a Ganesh shrine , surrounded by piles of straw for the pottery kilns. In the square itself is a solid-brick Vishnu Temple , which was constructed from remnants of temples destroyed in the 1934 quake, and the double-roofed Jeth Ganesh Temple , whose priest is chosen from the Kumal (potters’) caste. During the harvest in October, every square inch that is not covered by pots is covered by drying rice.
