Patan, also called Lalitpur, is Nepal's third-largest city and the second largest city in the Kathmandu Valley. It is situated on the southern bank of the river Baghmati in the Kathmandu Valley.

According to legend, the Indian emperor Ashoka visited the town about 250 B.C. and built the four large stupas (Buddhist temples and burial mounds) that still exist on the four sides of the town. This story is pure fiction, Ashoka never visited the Valley, but the strange mounds may predate even the 2^nd century B.C. emperor.

Patan retains the most ancient air of all the Valley's three main cities, beginning with its unproven reputation as the capital of the near-mythic Kiranti dynasty. According to Nepalese chronicles, Lalitpur was founded by King Varadeva in A.D. 299.

During the Licchavi era Patan dominated the Valley: by the 7^th century it was one of Asia's major Buddhist cities. Pilgrims, scholars, and monks from India, Tibet, and China travelled here, often staying in the city's characteristic bahal, monastic complexes built around open courtyards. At one point it was said that half of Patan's population was monks; the other half were artists.

As Hindu influence grew, Newar Buddhism slipped into decline: the Buddhist priesthood became a hereditary caste affair, and the population of Patan's bahal shifted from celibate monks to families sharing the same caste and profession. These interlocking residential courtyards still structure the interior of the old city: peaceful, monument-studded spaces with a distinctly medieval feel. Along with Patan's 50 odd major temples and countless smaller monuments and shrines, they give the town its classical name, Lalitpur, "The Beautiful City".

Medieval Patan was the largest of the Three Kingdoms, encompassing all of the prosperous south Valley and beyond. Most of its architectural glory dates to the late Malla era, beginning with the reign of Siddhi Narsingh Malla, who ascended the throne in 1619. Following Gorkha's conquest of the Valley, Patan was ignored in favour of the capital of Kathmandu. When Prithvi Naravan Shah conquered the valley in 1769, Lalitpur was plundered and the people treated with great brutality. The city became a quiet provincial backwater - a hidden stroke of fortune which has helped preserve its treasures to the present day.

The town has an agricultural economy (barley, rice, wheat, millet, vegetables, and fruit). Patan is known for its craftsmen, particularly metalworkers and wood-carvers.

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