Bhutan completes 108 Jangchub Chortens together in a single day on 1 November 2026, along the river at Gelephu Mindfulness City.
Each chorten stands 15 metres tall. The sites sit 108 metres apart centre to centre in a single file along the Mau Chhu, the river that runs through Gelephu. The Project 108 page at gmc.bt measures the line at roughly 11.7 km, with a corridor of about 12 km end to end. The project is a Royal initiative of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, dated 21 February 2026 on that page.
Gelephu Mindfulness City is a special administrative region in Sarpang district, beside the Indian state of Assam. The city is being developed around tourism, spirituality and health and wellness.
What stands along the river
A chorten is the Bhutanese term for a stupa, a sealed Buddhist monument holding sacred texts, relics and consecrated objects. Devotees walk clockwise around a chorten as a religious practice.
Project 108 uses the Jangchub Chorten, or Stupa of Enlightenment, one of eight classical forms of Buddhist stupa. It commemorates the enlightenment of the Buddha.
Each structure carries named elements. The thri is a square pedestal representing the earth element. The bangrim is a tiered base symbolising the Four Noble Truths. The bum-pa is the dome. The lhakhang is a niche holding an image of the Buddha. The khorlo is a spire of 13 rings. The dhug is a parasol. The nyim-da crowns the form as the union of sun, moon and flame.
The zung and the body that prepares them
The zung are the sacred texts, mantras and religious objects sealed inside each chorten. Bhutan's Central Monastic Body is preparing them.
The volunteer programme and the raising
The Project 108 page estimates 40,000 volunteers across the 108 sites. Volunteers cleared land, organised foundations and materials, and trained for the day. The participants named in the project's own account include school children, retirees, monks, farmers, doctors and Bhutanese returning from overseas.
Trained construction teams assembled by the Gelephu Mindfulness City Administration raise the structures. Tashi Penjor, the administration's Managing Director of City Development, said allowing large numbers of untrained participants onto the construction sites would not be practical or safe. Visitors observe the completion and join the religious programme around it.
The project page carries a line from the King on the initiative. "We must do it to prove to ourselves that, as we face the challenges ahead, there is no limit to what we can achieve when we stand together." The page dates it 21 February 2026.
What the day holds
Around 100,000 visitors are expected in Gelephu on 1 November. Around 84,000 people had registered by 8 October. Guests from around 20 countries are expected, among them Buddhist teachers and supporters of individual chortens.
His Holiness the Je Khenpo, the chief abbot of Bhutan's Central Monastic Body, is expected in Gelephu on 21 October to lead prayers and rituals of purification and blessing. Eight prayer galleries are being prepared for spiritual masters and monks.
Rooms, transport and the border
Hotel operators report that most of Gelephu's approximately 62 or 63 hotels are fully booked. Some reservations were made three to six months before the event. A designated campsite is being prepared behind the Gelephu Fishery Farm.
Private vehicles will not be allowed to enter Gelephu town from 1 to 4 November. Around 100 buses and 1,500 taxis are being arranged to move visitors between designated parking areas and the city. Visitors arriving from Sarpang park at Tashiling, from Serzhong at Pelrithang, and from Umling and Tareythang near the nunnery below Norbuling Primary School.
More than 30,000 vehicles have registered, around 22,000 of them for routes through India and more than 9,000 travelling from Thimphu through Tsirang district. Traffic monitoring begins on 20 October.
India's Union Home Ministry designated Hatisar in Assam as a temporary authorised immigration post for Bhutanese and third-country nationals attending Project 108. The announcement came on 15 October 2026.
Where the corridor sits in the city plan
Gelephu Mindfulness City is planned as an economic hub linking South Asia and Southeast Asia, with tourism, spirituality, health and wellness among its priorities. Its governor is Dr Lotay Tshering, a former prime minister of Bhutan. Daily Bhutan reports the corridor is separate from the wider collection of religious and contemplative landmarks planned across the city.
For advisors booking pilgrimage travel
The corridor gives advisors a dated event and a fixed place in southern Bhutan, reached overland through Assam. Volunteers have been clearing land and preparing sites along the river since the announcement, and the project page asks registered volunteers to update their registration ahead of 1 November.
Clients who want to be in Gelephu for the raising need accommodation secured now, given the state of the town's hotel stock. The vehicle restrictions on Gelephu town run to 4 November, so advisors planning client movements either side of the event should build them around that window and the designated parking points.