Leh , was the capital of the
Himalayan kingdom of
Ladakh, now the
Leh district in the
Indian state of
Jammu and Kashmir. Leh
district, with an area of 45,110 km
2, is the second largest district in the country, after
Kutch,
Gujarat (in terms of area). The town is dominated by the ruined
Leh Palace, the former mansion of the royal family of Ladakh, built in the same style and about the same time as the
Potala Palace-the chief residence of the
Dalai Lama until the
14th Dalai Lama fled to
Dharamsala,
India, during the
1959 Tibetan uprising. Leh is at an altitude of 3524 metres (11,562 ft), and connects via
National Highway 1D to
Srinagar in the southwest and to
Manali in the south via the
Leh-Manali Highway. In
2010, Leh was sorely damaged by the sudden floods caused by a
cloud burst.