Rinpung Dzong — “Fortress on a Heap of Jewels” — has stood above the Paro Valley since 1644–1646, when Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal ordered its construction following the transfer of an earlier, smaller fortress from local lords known as the Gyelchok and Gyelzom brothers, descendants of the Tibetan saint Phajo Drugom Zhigpo. It served for centuries as a defensive stronghold against repeated Tibetan invasions, and survived the catastrophic 1897 Assam earthquake largely intact, only to be struck by fire in 1906 — a blaze that destroyed much of the dzong’s interior, including precious relics and artifacts. Remarkably, the dzong’s most treasured possession, a 20-metre Thongdrel tapestry depicting Guru Rinpoche, crafted in the 18th century by Lama Nawang Rabgay from materials brought from Tibet, survived the fire completely untouched.

That same Thongdrel — one of Bhutan’s oldest surviving sacred treasures — remains the centrepiece of the Paro Tshechu today. The festival, introduced in its present form by Gyalse Tenzin Rabgye in 1687, was originally held inside the dzong itself, but moved outdoors following the 1906 reconstruction. Each spring, on the final morning of a five-day festival, the great tapestry is unveiled at dawn on the dzong’s outer wall and displayed for only a few hours before being rolled away again — Buddhists believe the image loses its sacred power if exposed to direct sunlight for too long, and that simply viewing it cleanses a year’s accumulated sin.

The Paro Tshechu honours the birth anniversary of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava), the 8th-century master who introduced Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet. Held from the 11th to the 15th day of the second lunar month, the festival is preceded by a full day and night of constant prayer and ritual, before the public Cham mask dances and the Dzongdrakha Tshechu — a smaller companion festival held simultaneously at nearby Dzongdrakha Monastery — bring the wider community together for several days of devotion, celebration, and shared meals in their finest traditional dress.