Lalitpur recognized as a Creative City of Music
The Nepal Weekly 
November 4, 2025
On World Cities Day 2025, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay designated 58 cities as new members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN). Recognized for their commitment to championing creativity as a driver of sustainable urban development, these cities bring their proven expertise in building resilient and vibrant communities to the Network.
Recently UNESCO has recognized Lalitpur as a Creative City of Music in 2025, while its Patan Durbar Square is part of the Kathmandu Valley’s UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognized in 1979. This means the city has received two separate UNESCO recognitions, one for its cultural heritage and the other for its musical creativity.
Laltpur, one of the city of arts, music and cultural activities has joined UNESCO’s network of urban creative hotspots, joining a list that now numbers some 408 sites.
The Creative Cities designation has been awarded to places in more than 100 countries, with those named recognised for contributions in everything from gastronomy to crafts and folk art.
Lalitpur Metropolitan City, formerly known as Patan, is Nepal’s third-largest city after Kathmandu and Pokhara and is located in the south-central area inside the Kathmandu Valley. Manigal is another name for Lalitpur. It is well recognized for its rich cultural legacy, especially its arts and crafts culture.
Lalitpur is known as the city of festivals and feasts, exquisite antique art, and the sculpting of metal and stone statuesis located in the Kathmandu Valley, on the south bank of the Bagmati River, which divides it from the city of Kathmandu into the north and west sides. On the southern side, the Nakkhukhola serves as a border. It grew on weak layers of deposited clay and gravel in the middle section of the Nagdaha, an ancient dried lake.
The Kirat dynasty built Lalitpur in the third century BC, which Licchavis later extended in the sixth century. During medieval times, the Mallas enlarged it much further.
Its name has a lot of tales attached to it. The most well-known is the mythology of God Rato Machhindranath. He was transported to the valley from Kaamaru Kamachhya in Assam, India, by three individuals symbolizing the three kingdoms based in the Kathmandu Valley.
One of them was Lalit, a farmer who traveled from Assam, India, to bring God Rato Machhindranath to the valley. The goal of introducing the God Rato Machhindranath to the valley was to alleviate the valley’s greatest drought.
Rain would be brought to the valley by the God Rato Machhindranath, according to popular belief. The God Rato Machhindranath has settled in Lalitpur thanks to Lalit’s efforts. Many people think that the town’s name is derived from his surname Lalit and the word pur, which means “township.”
In May, Patan hosts the Bungadyah Jatra, a chariot festival commemorating the god. It is one of Patan’s most extended and most prominent religious festivities. A picture of Rato Machhendanath is put on a high chariot and driven around the city streets in stages throughout the month-long celebration.
Although King Beer Deva is supposed to have built Lalitpur in 299 AD, experts agree that Patan has been a well-established and developed town since ancient times. According to several historical documents and many other tales, Patan is the oldest of all the cities in the Kathmandu Valley.
According to an ancient Kirat chronicle, Patan was created by Kirat kings long before the Lichchhavi rulers entered the political scene in Kathmandu Valley. Thankot was the oldest known capital of Kirat kings, according to that chronicle. After the Kirati King Yalamber came to power somewhere in the second century AD, Kathmandu, the current capital, was most likely relocated from Thankot to Patan.
Yala is a common and traditional Newar name in Lalitpur. According to legend, King Yalamber or Yellung Hang named this city after himself, and it has been known as Yala ever since. (By Ram Dangol)
