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The Barkor Jampa Lhakhang was founded in the fifteenth century by Lo Sempa Chenpo Lodro Gyeltsen, a Geluk master who refounded Lo Monastery in the upper Kyichu valley. The image enshrined in the temple is that of Jampa Tromsik (byams pa khrom gzigs)--the Maitreya watching the market. The temple was built to counter harmful influence from the north and to prevent crime in the busy market of the Barkor. The temple has always been maintained by Lo Monastery and contains the reliquary stupa of Sempa Chenpo Lodro Gyeltsen. The temple was restored in 1992 through the donation of a private Lhasa family. The main image of Maitreya, the two-storey clay Jampa, was made in 1991-1992. The original fifteenth century image was desecrated and removed from the temple during the Cultural Revolution.