Barkhor Street is located in the old city area of Lhasa. As the famous prayer path and business center in Lhasa, it preserves to some extent the traditional appearance and residential style of ancient times. It is a polygonal street ring composed of Barkhor East Street, Barkhor West Street, Barkhor South Street and Barkhor North Street, with a circumference of about 1,000 meters. The original Barkhor Street was only a prayer path around the Jokhang Monastery, a site of great reverence among Tibetan people; now, it encompasses a large complex of old streets around the monastery.

Tourists in Barkhor Street.

Barkhor Street developed with the construction of the Jokhang Monastery. So far, it has a history of more than 1,300 years. One pilgrimage path around the monastery gradually formed with the passage of time. Later, 18 family buildings were built around the monastery in   succession to provide accommodation services for pilgrims or merchants coming from distant places. In the 15th century, the Jokhang Monastery became the center for the spread of Buddhism. The dwellings for monks, religious schools, small temples and other buildings were built around it. Many Buddhist devotees began to move to the places around the monastery to live. A large number of dwellings, stores, hotels, handicraft workshops and other facilities gradually emerged on the street. With the rise of religious status of the Jokhang Monastery, Tibetan Buddhism believers began to walk clockwise around the Jokhang Monastery (that is, always keeping the buildings on their right side) to pray and worship the Sakyamuni Buddha enshrined inside. Barkhor Street became one of the three major prayer paths in Lhasa. Later, an influx of traders, pilgrims and vagrants from the Chinese hinterland, and countries such as Nepal, Bhutan and India, gradually changed the nature of the street, integrating the features of a religious way, sightseeing route, folk street, culture street, and commercial and shopping area. Here, people now can buy Tibetan carpets, knives, aprons, national costumes, shoes and hats, jewelry and various kinds of traditional handicrafts, and also can taste the most authentic Tibetan dishes.

Through this integration, Barkhor Street has become one of the most distinctive and charming historical and cultural streets in Tibet, and even in whole China. It is also the historical miniature of development of Tibet since ancient times.