KVPT’s Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign - Work to Date - September 2016

PATAN DARBAR EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE CAMPAIGN

NEPAL PATAN DARBAR EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE CAMPAIGN

DOCUMENTATION

OF

WORK

S E P T E M B E R 2016

TO

DATE

KATHMANDU VALLEY PRESERVATION TRUST

This volume is dedicated to KVPT founding chairman Eduard F. Sekler for his pioneering efforts in Patan Darbar, a place he has always loved.

In acknowledgment of the sincere efforts of the Government of Nepal Department of Archaeology to meet their monumental task.

NEPAL PATAN DARBAR EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE CAMPAIGN DOCUMENTATION

OF

WORK

SEPTEMBER 2016

TO

DATE

KATHMANDU VALLEY PRESERVATION TRUST

Plan of Patan Darbar (Royal Palace and Square) showing current KVPT Earthquake Response Campaign projects.

1) Sundari Cok East Wing 2) Char Narayana Temple 3) Harishankara Temple.

4) Vishveshvara Temple 5) Krishna Mandir 6) South Mandapa 7) North Manimandapa 8) Taleju Agam South (South wing of Mul Cok) 9) Taleju Agam North, (North wing of Mul Cok) 10) Bahadur Shah wing (North) of palace 11) Mul Cok 12) Yoganarendra Pillar 13) Nasal Cok 14) Keshav Narayana Chowk 15) Taleju Bell 16) Muche Agam

Front cover: One of sixteen medallions featuring the kneeling Vishnu in anthropomorphic form at Harishankara temple.

Back cover photo: A tympanum (toraᚇa) from Harishankara temple, above the arcaded ground floor ambulatory.

Photographs by Ashesh Rajbansh, August 4, 2016

Contents 7

Overview

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Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign

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Authenticity in Heritage Preservation

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Typical Seismic Issues in Newar Architecture

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Seismic Strengthening of Historic Newar Buildings

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Char Narayana Temple

Niels Gutschow

Rohit Ranjitkar and Evan Speer

Rohit Ranjitkar, Erich Theophile and Liz Newman with contribution by Evan Speer

Niels Gutschow and Raju Roka

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Harishankara Temple

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Restoration of the Harishankara idol

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Vishveshvara Temple

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Manimandapa South

315

Manimandapa North

341

Krishna Temple

355

Sundari Cok East Wing

381

Taleju Agam North

403

Taleju Agam South

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Bhimsen Temple’s Lion Pillar

429 453

Appendices Monument Preservation and Rebuilding Manual in response to the 25 April 2015 Gorkha Earthquake Basic guidelines for the Preservation and Rebuilding of Monuments damaged by the earthquake, 2072 (2016)

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Niels Gutschow

Gabriela Krist, Martina Haselberger, Marija Milchin Katharina Weiler

Katharina Weiler

Katharina Weiler Neeta Das

Niels Gutschow Liz Newman Liz Newman Raju Roka

athmandu alle Preser ation rust Patan DarbÄ r Earthquake Campaign Donors

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Overview This volume is the product of the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (KVPT) Review Mission (20 August-16 September 2016) documenting ongoing repair and restoration projects by the KVPT launched immediately after the 2015 earthquake, as well as KVPT’s ongoing development of a comprehensive earthquake response campaign/masterplan for the Patan Darbar Square Unesco World Heritage Site. Now 16 months after the quake, this presentation is informed by local developments in policy and activism as well as KVPT’s extensive and successful rescue operations, a rare beacon of hope in still difficult times.

Diverse contents here reflect KVPT’s diverse activities —including rescue operations, historical research, local and international lobbying, documentation, fundraising, public relations, seismic design, as well as theoretical writing gathered from KVPT’s 25 year history as the only international charity with a permanent presence in the Kathmandu Valley.

We document and share our own working process to offer direction and case studies for the actors and agencies likely to join expanded reconstruction and repair efforts, but possibly new both to this valley’s unique architectural language and working environment. With some 45 building and restoration projects completed, KVPT has had a chance to develop and assess a wide variety of

solutions and techniques to safeguard Newar architecture, often using approaches which can be understood as a “balancing” of Nepalese and international [Western] conservation norms. In addition to a project-by-project overview of work in progress, this volume includes examinations of KVPT’s working philosophy/practice of the two key preservation issues raised by post-earthquake work. The first,“authenticity”, although a muchused term in preservation, serves to focus in on varying attitudes toward the replacement of lost decorative woodcarvings and architectural/iconographic detail. The second focus is, of course, state-of-the-art techniques for the seismic strengthening of this local architecture, Newar architecture.

This volume is intended as an invitation to stimulate local and global discourse, and continues in the spirit of KVPT’s 1992 international symposium and subsequent publication “The Sulima Pagoda: East meets West in the restoration of a Nepalese Temple.”

Dr. Rohit Ranjitkar, Nepal Programme Director with Dr. Niels Gutschow Erich Theophile

Opposite Aerial view of Patan Darbār Square. The photo shows the architectural ensemble before the earthquake completely destroyed or partly damaged major temples and parts of the palace.

Source: Mukunda Bista, August 2004

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Map of PatanWorld Heritage Site shown in green

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Review and Documentation Mission August 20 - September 15, 2016 Anil Basukala, Site Supervisor, KVPT Bijay Basukala, Documentarist, Site Supervisor, KVPT Neeta Das, Conservation Consultant Niels Gutschow, Architectural Historian, Senior Advisor Pranam Hora, Junior Structural Engineer Liz Newman, Conservation Architect, KVPT Rohit Ranjitkar, Nepal Programme Director, KVPT Raju Roka, Programme Manager, KVPT Evan Speer, Seismic Engineering Consultant Erich Theophile, Executive Director, Co-founder KVPT Katharina Weiler, Art Historian

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Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign

By Erich Theophile and Liz Newman

The Kathmandu Valley heritage that we know and celebrate is [that] of the Newar community, who were the original inhabitants of Kathmandu. [In Newar architecture], there is the Narayan, there is the Shiva, there are Krishnas, of course. All the pantheon of the Kathmandu Valley’s deities are there. When we do consider them to be Hindu deities, we must keep in mind that there is not a sharp, hard line between [Hinduism and Buddhism]…. These same deities can be also worshipped by people of the other faith.

Nobody is saying, oh, that’s a Hindu temple, or oh, that’s a Buddhist shrine. The same Hindu will circumambulate the so-called Buddhist shrine, and the Buddhist will also circumambulate the so-called Hindu shrine. To me, that is the value of humanity that I inherit.

I’m an agnostic, so often people ask me, why are you going about rebuilding temples when you don’t even believe in the deities in the first place What I trust and what I believe in is the belief and faith of the people that I live amongst. So if they believe, to me, that is what is important….

Within that context, the first thing that you need to do is to make sure that the physical attributes of your history remain, in this roller coaster that we have been in, in which is included conflict and economic globalization, and loss of so much living and non-living—tangible and intangible— heritage. But within that context, I would say that we must keep in mind we are not only talking about rebuilding of the brick, mortar, and wood; we are talking about living heritage.

This is what makes Kathmandu Valley different from most other heritage sites of this kind, because here, when you have a temple, it is a temple that is venerated even today, because there are people who come to pray to that deity in there….

And if my current compatriots in Kathmandu Valley appreciate and believe, then I respect that, and I feel that their subject of obeisance, and the place of their obeisance,—the temples,—must be preserved, because that adds value and texture to our lives.

Kanak Mani Dixit, August 2016 Journalist, writer and preservation advocate in Kathmandu, Honorary Chairman of the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust

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glected after the monarchy ended, has now become a source of local pride and interest, not to mention jobs; and contributes meaningfully to the economy.

The Genesis of KVPT’s Earthquake Response Campaign Introduction

The Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust was created in 1991 in response to conditions in Nepal since the 1950’s that had left many of its finest centuries-old historic structures in decline, and it has worked ever since to protect and restore the architectural heritage of the Kathmandu Valley. Our working model is a collaboration of our local director, Patan office staff, and Nepalese artisans and builders with an international team supporting planning, research, fund raising, administration, and technical expertise. In the past quarter century, the Trust has funded and implemented the preservation and restoration of over 55 significant historic structures, and is today uniquely positioned in the Kathmandu Valley to succeed at this type of work and to share our experience with others arriving to help with heritage earthquake response.

By early 2015, the Patan Royal Palace Complex, the Trust’s most ambitious project to date, had been restored and opened as a national museum of Newari architecture. The palace complex and royal square, perhaps South Asia’s finest intact historic urban architectural ensemble, are the museum’s major exhibit. The last major component of the palace project, the East Wing of the Sundari Cok,—poorly rebuilt after collapsing in the 1934 earthquake,—was under construction and awaiting funding for completion. The museum is the most visited tourist site in Nepal, welcoming Nepalese and international tourists, as well as many local school groups.

While the temples of the royal square have always been part of daily life, the architecture of the palace, long ne12

The earthquake

On April 25, 2015 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Nepal, leaving widespread destruction in its wake. Its impact on the Kathmandu Valley was devastating, particularly to the built heritage of the urban centers of Kathmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur, Sanku, Bungamati, Khokana, and other historic settlements.

The earthquake had a major impact on the ancient buildings in the historic town squares of Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur—all UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In Patan Darbār Square, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List in October 1979, the Patan Royal Palace Complex sits to the northeast of the historic street crossing which forms the basis of the urban fabric. Prior to April 2015, the central space of the square was occupied by a number of temples and two small, ancient, open air arcades (maṇḍapa). One of the very few early temples of Nepal predating the 1580s, Charnarayana (1565), ranked among the most significant temples of Newar architectural history. The two mandapas, located north of the palace complex, date to the 16th or even 15th century (South Ma apa) and early 17th century (North Manima apa) and mark a much older sacred site. The construction in 1706 of the Harishankara temple, to the south of the Charnarayana, followed the two typological and artistic highlights of the first half of the 17th century (the Vishveshvara temple b. 1627, and the Krishna temple, b. 1637), and marked the last great architectural achievement on the Royal Square.

In the April 25, 2015 earthquake, the Charnarayana temple, the Harishankara temple, and the two mandapas collapsed completely, leaving only their plinths more or less intact. In order to protect the historic building elements from theft and weather, the KathmanduValley

Preservation Trust moved rapidly to coordinate security and clean-up efforts in Patan in the days after the earthquake. Remnants of the fallen temples in Patan Darbar Square, - thousands of carved timber elements as well as bricks and roof tiles,- were secured with the help of hundreds of volunteers and the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, and Police. All valuable historic building elements were securely stored in the Patan Museum and the walled garden of the Royal Palace complex and were gradually cleaned, documented, and inventoried in preparation for the restoration and rebuilding which is now underway.

The loss of this unique architectural heritage has disfigured and diminished Patan’s townscape and religious and social life, and left its deities unsheltered. Our campaign seeks to restore the urban landscape and again shelter the deities for whom the temples were built.

Pre-earthquake documentation of recent years provides a good basis for rebuilding and restoring the temples on the square. There is a lack of detailed documentation of the mandapas, but a good amount of forensic evidence survives in the plinths and other recovered building elements. Using the many salvaged fragments, the temples and mandapas will be returned as closely as possible to their original configuration. The projects follow international norms in using a maximum of historical material and creating careful and extensive documentation that will enable future generations to track the design and construction processes.

The planning and building processes are based on local expertise, with designs for in situ repairs as well as rebuilding based on traditional technology and materials.

One of the landmarks in this local collaboration process is the assembly of master carpenters (Newari Silpakār), wood carvers (Kijyami), and masons (Avaḥ) from Bhaktapur, as well as stone carvers (Lvahakahmi) and metal workers from Patan. These craftsmen from the ethnic group of Newars bring to bear the experience and skills handed down through many generations.

The April 28, 2015 earthquake also changed the course of the Trust. The fact that our Nepal Director Rohit Ranjitkar and local staff had been active at Patan Darbar for many years allowed them to hit the ground running immediately after the earthquake. In the larger context, Rohit Ranjitkar took on the role of a sort of modern-day royal architect; the team’s senior advisor Niels Gutschow, the foremost authority on Newar architecture, advised at every step; Kanak Mani Dixit stepped ua as preservation advocate, writer, and KVPT Honorary Chairman; and KVPT New York helped to coordinate as well as work on international PR and fundraising. Rohit Ranjitkar rapidly coordinated the salvage of historic building elements; began assessing damage to the historic buildings (only three of KVPT’s more than 55 projects suffered significantly); shored up unstable structures; and established the workshop in the palace gardens to store, study, and repair architectural pieces rescued from the rubble.

With this garden access, existing open permits on restoration projects, and liquid funds, local KVPT staff were able in the midst of crisis and earthquake aftershocks to achieve a great deal in a short time. KVPT received a worldwide outpouring of offers of help. The Trust announced plans within a week of the earthquake to reconstruct the Char Narayan temple, creating a symbol of hope in a difficult time. The damaged Lion Pillar was soon restored and reinstalled - a first project already complete. The new Patan Royal Workshop has now identified, sorted, cleaned, repaired, and/or replicated hundreds of historic carved timber and stone pieces and other salvaged building elements. KVPT has moreover been essentially the only agency able to make significant progress since the earthquake.

The campaign takes shape

Over the past year and a half, we have assessed damage and rescued historic elements for reuse at many of the important sites in the Kathmandu Valley, and communicated with potential donors, partners, and imple13

menting agencies. We decided that a focus on the Patan Darbar World Heritage Site would be the most effective use of our resources and could serve as a sort of model. To implement this, we envisioned a five-year Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign (now already entering its second year). The Patan Darbar - palace and square - are recognized as the most intact of Nepal’s historic urban spaces and are architecturally outstanding in context of the entire South Asian subcontinent. KVPT has worked as part of this community for 25 years, and this allows us to focus on five of Nepal’s most significant structures, (Sundari Cok Palace, Char Narayana Temple, Harishankara Temple, Vishveshvara temple, and Krishna Mandir), as well as the manimandapas,—all of which collapsed or were heavily damaged in the earthquake and demand the highest level of restoration and conservation, which no other agency is in a position to deliver.

KVPT as model

Just as our building rescue efforts in May 2015 were an example followed by others, KVPT’s post-earthquake work can be developed and documented as a model for other agencies and sites. As we work to restore Nepal’s most important urban site, we are collaborating already with Nepalese and other partners, including the municipality and the Nepal Government Department of Archaeology, which is planning several projects in Patan Darbar, and the Austrian Government, who will restore the Patan (art) Museum with KVPT in a coordinating role. UNESCO was in touch early on for advice and help with their work in Kathmandu. We feel this collaborative approach is especially critical given rapidly developing plans for new partners and projects, —notably Chinese and Japanese partners at Kathmandu Royal Square. KVPT’s 10-year project to bring up the Patan Royal Palace Complex up as an architecture museum now provides a natural venue to show this work to others who may be interested.

Evolving conditions 14

Since the earthquake, in working to get the funding and planning for a number of significant restoration and reconstruction projects underway, the Trust has had to navigate a new, still-shifting human landscape. Thirdworld bureaucracy issues have multiplied as billions in foreign aid suddenly pour into the world’s tenth-poorest country. Nepal had a very hard time establishing a new Reconstruction Authority. The Department of Archaeology’s response to the loss of historic monuments has been tortuous, with monument zone guidelines appearing only in March 2016. The months-long Indian blockade in 2015-16 wreaked havoc on materials cost and availability. The widespread fear that traditional buildings are unstable and should be replaced with new construction continues to be a critical existential threat to an enormous number of buildings that withstood the earthquake. Addressing this larger, more complex situation is a less obvious need than restoring buildings but is integral to the work. In part simply because working in this context is so complex and difficult, we consider it part of our job, given our unique position, to gather resources, document and circulate information, and develop strategies that can be shared with other agencies working in the Valley.

Strategy

Meanwhile, the situation in Nepal continues to evolve, requiring us to adapt to and assess the ongoing political and economic aftershocks. As there is no national institution with specialized technical capacity in seismic-related preservation issues, KVPT—the only international agency registered in the field considers it our role to share information, promote dialogue, and provide model projects. We believe that with the overwhelming scope of restoration projects ahead, we should take a two-pronged approach: 1) focus strategically on a group of preservation projects we can successfully manage; and 2) broaden our impact by better documenting, analyzing, and making available information on our long and unique experience in Kathmandu Valley preservation, in

order to help the many local and international groups now taking on other preservation projects.

Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust’s Patan Darbar earthquake response campaign Overview

The Trust’s work continued for over a year at a fire drill’ pace to meet emergency conditions created by the earthquake. With a number of rebuilding and restoration projects and many fundraising efforts by necessity already underway, we only more recently could take stock and look ahead to the next few years, to create a master plan.

The Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign is taking shape. The five-year campaign will consist of 20 to 25 brick and mortar restoration and reconstruction projects which we are expanding with initiatives for documenting and sharing our work. At present, the Trust has begun to develop planning and funding for 12-14 of our own Phase I brick and mortar projects, and is providing technical assistance for one of three other projects initiated by the Nepal Government as well as coordinating with the Austrian Government’s project at the Royal Palace’s Keshav Narayana Cok. Nearly all projects are in the central Patan Darbar ensemble, and the rest are key sites nearby. Several projects address earlier KVPT restorations damaged in the earthquake; most are iconic structures where we are working for the first time due to earthquake damage. These and perhaps ten more potential Phase II projects which are under review are listed in the Appendix, with a key plan and thumbnail photos.

This list, shown as of June, 2016, is evolving.

Documenting the preservation process and the historical moment

The initiatives to plan and better support our project work, and to share knowledge, begin with our 2016 review mission and the publication of the present volume.

As there are insufficient resources on the national level, or other expert entity to do it, KPVT considers it important to our mission and contribution to the future of Nepalese architecture to address the pressing and changing needs in the Kathmandu Valley on an ongoing basis by providing documentation of our work and hosting a local and international dialog. Much work is in progress and many design decisions have been made, but there has been insufficient documentation in the past due to the lack of manpower. There is a need to assess and analyze the preservation process as well as techniques and design. What is the level of authenticity of craftsmanship? What are the varied perspectives on the issue of authenticity? What preservation decisions are being made, and how? What has been the interaction of craftsmen and conservation architects and professionals? This work is also a natural extension of our work over the past 25 years of keeping contact and exchanging project information and techniques, as we have with past Japanese, German, French, and Austrian project collaborations.

There has likewise been little analysis of the post-earthquake situation on the ground, which has been chaotic and extremely complex, with the Indian embargo, no official permissions, local lobbying against seismic strengthening, the complex political situation, scarcity augmented by the blockade, the challenges of sourcing materials, labor transport, fuel, etc.

On a positive note, a new sort of Royal Workshop of Patan is alive, with historic building elements being sorted and repaired by KVPT in the gardens of the palace.

With the multi-nation players involved, the controversies, the byzantine official processes, these constitute an extraordinary moment in the Kathmandu Valley’s architectural history, when the documentation itself of the times and the post-earthquake process (in the tradition 15

of organizations such as Human Rights Watch) can be a significant contribution to the preservation of historic structures.

KVPT, a known locus of expertise and experience, is providing a number of local jobs and is spreading its information through press releases, briefings, and expanding exhibits at the Architecture Galleries of the Patan Museum. The Trust has offered over 90 guided tours for the Department of Archaeology, Patan municipality, educational institutions, local and international donors, international ambassadors and princes. It has engaged around 45 carpenters and skilled woodcarvers, two stone masons, eight brick workers, four metalsmiths, and forty laborers working on site. In the years 2014 and 2015, the Patan Museum counted 72,670 visitors and employed 37 museum staff.

Outputs for seismic initiatives will include, most importantly, the best possible results for our projects and improved durability, safety, and preservation design sensitivity in others’ projects. Other outputs will include reports that • • • • •

Seismic strengthening models—recording, developing and promoting sensitive techniques

Over its quarter century of work, the Trust has always incorporated designs for seismic strengthening in its projects. This section lays out our thoughts on seismic design as of May 2016, as design for new projects was getting underway. These ideas are updated and explored in more detail in the following chapters on seismic strengthening.

To address the range of unique issues presented in the various building types, we have designed and executed a variety of seismic reinforcement schemes, with our local staff collaborating wtih leading engineers from U.S and Europe. (Historic structures are typically not a focus of local engineers.) As a result, very few of our past projects (3 of 55) suffered major damage in last year’s earthquake, while so many others around them collapsed. With new groups now planning preservation projects in the Kathmandu Valley,there is a need to better organize, develop, and share our knowledge on seismic strengthening.

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assemble and present existing documentation KVPT’s and others’ relevant seismic design and techniques; document selected local case studies that are as yet undocumented; assess seismic strategies (our senior advisors assess our engineers’ proposed strategies and review them relative to larger context); present techniques for assessing and strengthening other traditional structures that did not collapse in the earthquake; present model seismic designs and techniques responding to a range of typical construction types and post-earthquake conditions in the Kathmandu Valley today.

In addition to sharing this technical knowledge, we will share experience in dealing with guidelines of the Department of Archeology and the new Reconstruction Authority; and working with the Nepal Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET).

Typical to historic Newari buildings was a design of great artistic significance, often together with very poor building fabric. Typical problems today are the lack of vertical connections; a lack of information about foundations; building materials quality and supply issues— cement, brick, mud mortar, timbers. Layered on to these over time are decreased seismic resistance due to multiple post-earthquake reconstructions; shoddiness and incorrect historical details/configurations of past repairs; and low-quality structural replacement timber. The rebuilding process has sometimes spurred on artistic developments, but without prioritizing structural connections or internal structure; with design that responds to cul-

tural and climatic considerations but not earthquake activity. The iconic multi-tiered temple type, with its very wide overhanging roofs and timber structure but little or no positive connections of inside to outside, or of the main edifice to the base, is a classic example.

Erratic maintenance has long been an issue, especially since the end of the monarchy in the 1950’s and the subsequent decline of land trusts charged with maintaining temples and shrines. Traditional structures have heavy clay tile roofs set in mud; horizontal timbers embedded in rubble walls with mud mortar; and bases unprotected from the cyclical rising damp of ground water and monsoons. Together with significant declines in quality of replacement wood, these issues leave structures vulnerable to plant growth on roofs, rotting timber ends, top loading, and poor connections that—without proper maintenance and reinforcement—can easily lead to earthquake damage. The probability of poor future maintenance, the certainty of future earthquakes, and life safety concerns support the case for more durable interventions today than in the past.

We have identified several seismic model projects in Patan Darbar. In the course of design and restoration or rebuilding of these projects, we will continue to develop a range of seismic strengthening strategies and techniques, which can then serve as models for addressing common types of structural earthquake damage in other traditional structures. For key model projects, we have 1) rebuilding schemes for collapsed multi-tiered temple type structures (Char Narayana, Hari Shankara); 2) in-situ repairs of the multi-tiered temple type (Vishveshvara); and 3) rebuilding of the open arcade type—mandapa/ sattal structures (Manimandapas),—which is inherently challenging given their timber column structure without ground floor walls for bracing and connection.

The two general kinds of structural challenges we face are 1) rebuilding collapsed structures—where modeling will be possible, but implementation quality is difficult

to predict; and 2) reinforcement of existing buildings, some of which are significantly weakened. Structural design for rebuilding is more straightforward, mainly because new structural characteristics can theoretically be specified/quantified. Goals are to develop a range of solutions which vary with each building’s importance, specific construction, and risk of collapse; to develop a safety assessment guide for our team’s field use, also collaborating with local engineers; and to refine our range of strengthening techniques.

The biggest challenge for these cases will be in the tradeoffs between new and old methods: To what extent should structurally inadequate historical building details be retained? Which details are so inherently weak that alternatives must be sought? Which characteristics are so key to the buildings’ history or aesthetics that new ways to maintain them must be sought? What determines the choice between a safer modern—say—steel—structure inserted (whether visible or not) within an exterior of historical details, versus a less safe rebuilding of the historical building with less intrusive reinforcement measures?

Another significant challenge will be to develop a methodology to analyse historic buildings which survived the 2015 earthquake with or without damage, to determine appropriate strengthening interventions. For these, alternative methods of structural modeling need to be developed to allow quantitative analysis; and many of the same questions will apply.

Past KVPT projects illustrate many points along the continuum from minimal intervention to maximum sensitive seismic strengthening. Structural solutions of interest includes Patukva Agamchhen (1994, no damage in 2015), Jagannath Temple (2003, moderate cracks at upper level), Ayaguthi Sattal (1999, no damage), Vabaha (1994, very minor damage), and Radha Krishna (1991, collapsed). We have already analyzed some of our other projects fairly extensively in the past (e.g., Sundari Cok). It will be instructive to better analyze how and 17

why those buildings survived or failed, and to understand causes of failure in other traditional structures we have not worked on before, to refine our understanding of the historic building systems.

In the process, we need to research whatever exists already—collecting materials related to seismic strengthening by others in Nepal, reviewing the approaches, to the extent possible,—to do a technical assessment.

Questions include what is being proposed or allowed; what is buildable under current conditions; and hybridized approaches past and present. This work needs to be assessed in an international context to consider how to balance the known weaknesses of the traditional construction against, for example, the dictates of the Charter of Venice or the Nara Document on Authenticity; and to judge what would be the justification, if any, for introducing modern materials when traditional practice fails.

Engineers new to the problem will need time to get up to speed in this exercise. We need to first review and refine our existing methods with a senior first-world consultant to advise on issues of cement quality testing; pine vs sal wood choices; the significance of various safety factors, strength comparisons of steel and reinforced concrete interventions; non-destructive radar scanning of inaccessible foundations. We need engineering expertise to back up our investigative work, troubleshoot our decision-making process, and help develop alternative designs, including professional (ideally, quantitative) strategies for balancing safety and historical fabric. As local projects by others develop, given KVPT’s leadership role with historical buildings, we need to work alongside a local engineering team to help train these engineers, who focus on modern work and tend to be less familiar with this architecture. The result will be specialized methodologies reflecting the anomalies of the building fabric and the current situation. To be relevant, for example, models that could be replicated locally will have to be streamlined to be feasible despite the limited resources.

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Campaign funding The Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign has many major and repeat donors as well as new supporters.

Major project partners and funding are noted at the end of this document.

This overview of Campaign Project buildings as of June 2016 presents a mix of new, old, pre- and post-earthquake views.

Following Pages Inside the various storage rooms, set up by KVPT shortly after the earthquake, for rescued historical building elements from Patan Darbar and details of some of the carved wooden elements salvaged.

Photos by Ashesh Rajbansh,, Oct. 2015

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Authenticity in Heritage Preservation Recapturing Lost Elements—Thoughts About Restoration and Replacement of Damaged or Missing Parts in Architectural Heritage Conservation.

A dialogue between the West and Nepal in the wake of the 2015 earthquake (Niels Gutschow)

Recapturing Lost Elements — Thoughts About Restoration and Replacement of Damaged or Missing Parts in Architectural Heritage Conservation.

A dialogue between the West and Nepal in the wake of the 2015 earthquake

By Niels Gutschow

Once one accepts the idea that the philosophy of Enlightenment was only one among others to establish the principles of an acceptable social coexistence, then one should also admit that there are no absolute and scientifically justified criteria on the substratum on which universally valid values could be based in the context of the protection of natural and cultural resources.

Philippe Descola, French anthropologist, in a lecture on 16 December 2015 in Paris

Part I Introduction The European obsession with patina The debate about conservation of buildings entertained in Europe at the end of the 19th century very much shaped the idea of what makes a “monument” and the way the state and/or society should take care of it. This debate was so powerful that its shock-waves keep rocking through the ongoing debates at the beginning of the 21st century.

The issue of patina—literally (It.) a thin layer, the surface of objects and buildings, produced by the process of ageing—is probably the most controversial one among the many aspects of authenticity. Theoretically, at least in Europe, the surface of a historic structure has to be consolidated to prevent further decay. The actual practice, however, is far from following this powerful principle. Private and institutional owners try their best to find or even create good reasons to renew surfaces in order to

recall the original splendor if not glory of a façade, an interior or even an entire building. As the debate started in Europe, it mirrored the anxiety of countries which had entered the process of industrialization and does not have much meaning for the ongoing discourse in South Asia.

In contrast, beautification is an all-pervasive impulse in the care for historic structures in South Asia. Even the Archaeological Survey of India, which was explicitly founded by British Colonial rule in 1861 to preserve prominent archaeological remains, did not refrain from beautifications and up to this day spends a large proportion, if not the majority of its funds for gardening to “improve” the environment of ruins.

A short episode regarding the value of patina demonstrates that the West has many voices and that there is no such thing as uniformity of thought and practice.

When fire gutted Uppark, a seventeenth-century house in West Sussex (England) in 1989, it was restored in the style of the period in which it was built. The process of restoration initiated a re-engagement with many forgotten crafts. However, scorch marks were left on the woodwork and ragged bits of carpet were left to preserve the interior from the accusation of inauthenticity. With his usual aplomb, the New York-born (1923) historian and geographer David Lowenthal commented, with reference to this example, in 2011 that heritage stewardship is not “merely preservative: it is ongoing and creative.

Many cry havoc at the loss of our precious irreplaceable legacy. But that legacy is neither dwindling nor irreplaceable. It has an organic life of its own, its make-up and lineaments re-evaluated by every succeeding generation.” Lowenthal was wise enough to pass on the debate to future generations and to avoid rigid precepts.

Theory and Values, conceptualized by European art historians and conservationists (1849–1916) For more than 150 years, a controversy has raged be-

Opposite Inside one of the storage rooms, set up by KVPT shortly after the earthquake, for rescued historical building elements from Patan Darbar.

Photo by Ashesh Rajbansh, Oct. 2015

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tween those art historians, architects, and conservation officers who consider material authenticity the ultima ratio and those who not only acknowledge or apologetically concede, but self-confidently assert that the restoration (definition by itch 1982: “the process of returning the artifact to the physical condition in which it would have been at some previous stage of its morphological development”) of an historic structure is a valid aim in the workaday world of conservation (definition by itch 1982: “physical intervention in the actual fabric of the building to ensure its continued structural integrity”) and preservation (definition by itch 1982: “maintenance of the artifact in the same physical condition as when it was received by the curatorial agency”). At times, this controversy has assumed the proportions of an out-and-out “war of words” in which those engaged in restoration work are regularly lambasted as “traitors” or insulted as “counterfeiters.” The following account is but a short introduction to a wide range of actors and thoughts.

John Ruskin’s mid-nineteenth century legacy: The “impossibility” to restore (1849) One powerful voice in this whole debate was that of the British writer and antiquarian John Ruskin (1819– 1900), who in the 1840s raised his voice against any kind of restoration. His pugnacious, not to say militant, arguments were rooted in a romantic predisposition and the desire to preserve patina and the traces of history. At all events, he contended, the present physical condition of a building should be retained. A romantic feature of this conviction is the acknowledgement of the fact that “curatorial agencies” (or simply the owners) usually start to act when it is too late, i.e. when the physical condition of a building calls for an intervention “to ensure its continued structural integrity” (Fitch 1982).

As good a place as any to begin an engagement with Ruskin’s ideas is a famous quote from his Seven Lamps of Architecture, first published in 18 9, which figures in many disquisitions on the origins of the conservation 28

movement. On the subject of “memory”, Ruskin makes the following contention that has been drawn upon ever since in the skirmishes between those who take the term conservation literally and those who set out to transcend mere maintenance and to restore a building.

“Neither by the public, nor by those who have the care of public monuments, is the true meaning of the word restoration understood. It means the most total destruction which a building can suffer: a destruction out of which no remnants can be gathered: a destruction accompanied with false description of the thing destroyed. Do not let us deceive ourselves in this important matter; it is impossible, as impossible as to raise the dead, to restore anything that has ever been great or beautiful in architecture. […] Another spirit may be given by another time, and it is then a new building […]” (Ruskin 1849, 179).

Alois Riegl and the postulation of “age value” (1903) Half a century after Ruskin, another major authority, the Austrian art historian Alois Riegl (1858–1905) of Vienna, made an influential contribution to the theory of art and especially to the field of conservation. Der moderne Denkmalkultus was published in 1903, but it took eighty years to attract the attention of the broader conservation community of the Austrian Empire. It has recently been translated into English (The Modern Cult of Monuments: its Character and Origin, 1982), French (1984, 2003), Italian (1985), Spanish (1987, 1999, 2007, 2008), and Czech (2003). After its publication, Riegl served as general conservator of the Central Commission for the Research and Conservation of Monuments of Art and History in Austria.

Riegl’s main argument was that an architectural monument is characterized by “age value,” by which he meant the scars, gaps, crevices, scratches, wrinkles that cover the surface and embody a variety of messages. “Age value” revolves essentially around what nature does to a building,

notably the weathering that causes decay. This view implies that although a building may be well looked after, nothing can prevent weathering, so the surface is bound to develop patina. The more common case, however, is that the curatorial agency has to deal with neglect (often wilful), mechanical damage, and partial or wide-ranging destruction in the wake of natural calamities and war.

The “Modern Cult of Monuments” says that there must be no interference with the natural process of decay, an approach that rules out conservation of any kind. In short, it is the patina that establishes and guarantees authenticity. In contrast, Ruskin valued the “age”, that is, the antiquity of a building: “Its glory is in its Age, and in that deep sense of voicefulness, of stern watching, of mysterious sympathy, nay, even of approval or condemnation, which we feel in walls that have long been washed by the passion waves of humanity”. The emphasis here is not on the tangible, visually perceptible surface but on immaterial messages — whatever one may understand by “passion waves of humanity.”

Ideological constraints: Conservation as a belief system In 1916, Riegl’s successor in office, Max Dvořák (1874– 1921), published a Catechism for Preservation of Monuments (Katechismus der Denkmalpflege) designed to communicate the idea of preservation to a wider public.

Both titles, Riegl’s The Modern Cult of Monuments and Dvořák’s Catechism suggest that preservation is not so much a rational attitude as a belief. According to The American Heritage Dictionary (2006), a cult is an “obsessive devotion to or veneration for a person, principle or ideal” and a catechism “a brief summary of the basic principles of religion,” namely Christianity. In our context, both definitions may seem a little extreme and do scant justice to the authors. ut the definitions rightly indicate that, in sum, conservation principles are not based on science but on a system of belief, this being the very reason why the conservation issue all too often

degenerates into a “slanging match” in which the differences between the adversaries involved are often grossly exaggerated.

This belligerence had already become apparent in Ruskin’s day. In 1854, the French architect Viollet-leDuc was of quite a different opinion than Ruskin and maintained that restoration is a “means to re-establish a building to a finished state, which may in fact never have actually existed at any given time”. This early debate demonstrates in fact the wide range of values the term “restoration” incorporates. In any case, it is never linear but always rich in ambivalence.

It is exactly this ambivalence, the diversity of approaches to which we want to draw attention in the context of the Nepalese debate about the rebuilding of lost monuments in the wake of the 2015 earthquake. Conservation and restoration are based on specific experiences in a specific historical, social and even political context.

Riegl and his German colleagues, like the architect Cornelius Gurlitt (1850–1938) and the art historian Georg Dehio (1850–1932), shared the same appreciation of “age value”. In 1900 Gurlitt maintained “that the aim of any restoration is the preservation; one should spare what is decayed from further degradation. One should restore in such a way that it remains obvious what in a building is old and what is new, and one should mark what is added stylistically as new.” Dehio followed suit in 1901, asserting in the context of the controversy regarding the restoration of Heidelberg Castle that “it is a psychologically deep-rooted longing” that “the old should look old, with all its experiences, such as wrinkles, cracks and wounds.”

From the Venice Charter (1964) to the Nara Document on Authenticity (1994) Gurlitt and his colleagues established a cult based on a system of belief that among conservationists has re29

1 “Wounds of memory”. World War Two bullet holes kept visible and covered by glass.

Berlin, Sigismundstrasse.

Photograph N. Gutschow, 2009

mained valid to this day. His insistence on dividing the new from the old resurfaced again in 1964 when the students of Riegl, Dehio and Gurlitt convened in Venice to write down a Charter, which is still widely understood as a binding document. It is especially article 12 of the Charter that at present draws our attention: it says “replacements of missing parts must integrate harmoniously with the whole, but at the same time must be distinguishable from the original so that restoration does not falsify the artistic or historic evidence.”

The earthquake in April 2015 did in fact produce a lot of damage to the architectural heritage of the Kathmandu Valley, so that replacements have become the challenge of the day. The descendants of those carpenters who once created the temples and palaces would never give in to making their work distinguishable from the original. Their work rivals the quality of the original.

The Venice Charter is even more explicit in article 9. To postulate that “the aim [of restoration] is to preserve and reveal the aesthetic and historic value of the monument” is absolutely valid and not questioned anywhere in the world. But to put “a contemporary stamp” on “any extra work” is regarded by me and the Newar craftsmen as dogmatic interference in a well-established practice.

It never occurred to the authors of the Charter (all of them Europeans except two representatives from Peru and Mexico and a US-born Japanese representative of UNESCO) that attitudes and longings might in fact be a product of specific cultural processes. We will come back to this point later.

Let me repeat: around 1900, Riegl, Gurlitt, and Dehio established a cult based on a system of belief that among conservationists has remained valid to this day. So it is hardly surprising that many of their principles should have resurfaced in the Venice Charter of 1964. Before the formulation of the Nara Document on Authenticity of 1994 these principles claimed universal validity.

Riegl went even further with his claim that age value

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has the unique advantage of being valid for all, i.e. transcending confessional differences, the divide between the educated and the uneducated, and between those who love and understand art and those who do not. Until today, this claim of universal validity gives the supporters of “age value” an immense self-assurance, making them rather “conquering and intolerant”, as Riegl proudly postulated already in 1903. The “psychologically deep-rooted longing” for patina was even claimed to be part of human nature. The intolerance of the early “heroes” of the conservation movement tends to spread a shroud of mistrust on conservation sites.

It is the claim to universal validity for certain aspects of conservation that has poisoned the debate, leaving little room for consideration of specific contexts. y contrast, Herb Stovel referred in 2008 to the “emerging conviction that authenticity resided in what a selection of attributes rooted in the particular place- and circumstances-specific values of a historic place might reveal.”

One has to bear in mind that everything quoted in the preceding passages comes from a stoutly academic background. More often than not, principles are defined by the academic guardians of architectural heritage. The freezing of a structure in time is associated with wishful thinking, the idea that, well maintained, a structure would exist forever. But this is to ignore the fact that in most cases conservation is concerned with ill-kept, dilapidated, or simply neglected structures. In these cases, conservation inevitably turns into restoration, be it abruptly or even unexpectedly.

To return to the value of patina: the West seems to be obsessed with replacing objects lost in war or in the course of progress. Reconstructed objects satisfy the hunger of consumerism on the one hand, while respecting traces of decay on the other. This may be especially true of German society after the loss of historical monuments in war and in the post-war developments undertaken in the name of progress and efficiency.

The debate has been presented here at length in order to understand or even appreciate the mind-set of conservationists from the West who engage in the ongoing discourse on conservation principles appropriate for a country such as Nepal.

Part II The 20th-century experience in Europe: War and iconoclasm Scars and decay: Berlin and Auschwitz In most of Europe’s cities, small scars, wounds or even ruins turned into memorials are there for all to witness.

In quite a few places, scars on the surface of stone are highlighted in order to turn a wall, a building, or a site into a memorial of wars and uprisings.

Probably in no other city in the world does the Second World War remain as visually apparent as in Germany’s capital, Berlin. Bullet holes are ubiquitous, recalling the extensive street warfare in April 1945. One building, which now houses the administrative offices of the Art Gallery, is studded with such bullet holes. No attempt has been made to cover the scars up. Instead, a sheet of glass has been attached to the wall, leaving a slight gap between itself and the stone surface. It bears the inscription “Wounds of Memory” (Fig. 1). The glass covers a small area of the façade and draws attention to the consequences of war. In this case the initiative has come from the nation that brought suffering, death, and destruction to large areas of Europe. The visibility of the wounds on the building is an avowal of guilt.

The buildings opposite the Budapest Parliament Building in Hungary, for example, are pockmarked with holes into which large balls of iron have been inserted, symbolizing the bullets used in the autumn of 1956 to disperse the masses that had assembled in the wake of the uprising against communist rule. The scars were

made visible after 1990 to commemorate the fight for freedom, which for Hungary was a painful experience, ushering in thirty-four years of oppression.

German cities like Berlin have been showered by millions of bombs, bullets, and artillery shells. The scars left on stone and plaster are near-ubiquitous. Efforts to cover up the evidence of war have intensified since the reunification of the country in 1990. In 2008, erlin’s famous Brandenburg Gate re-emerged from the scaffolding that had covered it for many years. Its surface was immaculately smooth. Irrespective of size, all the scars on the structure have been covered up (Fig. 2). But they remain visible to the tutored eye because the mortar differs slightly in color from the original grey stone. It will need decades before the “additions” develop their own patina to be eventually identified as such only with a magnifying glass.

Not far from the Brandenburg Gate, the restorers of the arcade of the New Museum (built in 1855, bombed in 1944, restored in 2009) opted for a different approach.

Scars longer than three centimeters were covered up with special mortar, while smaller holes were left as they were to avoid the impression of seamless restoration (Fig. 3).

In this case, the effects of war had to be kept alive somehow to achieve at least a modicum of memory and authenticity.

National Socialist Germany (1933–45) created a heinous infrastructure of its own across Europe. Concentration camps were established to imprison enemies of state, Roma, homosexuals. Russian prisoners of war, and Jews. The most abominable was the one at the city of Auschwitz (O więcim) near Kraków in Poland, which had been annexed by the German Reich in November 1939. More than one million people were annihilated in the gas chambers there. The German command tried to destroy the crematoria of the Birkenau camp before fleeing but did not succeed. Today, one crematorium is preserved and the ruins of a second one were stabilized in

2 and 3 Scars covered up: gaps being closed by stone of filled with mortar.

The Brandenburger Tor and the colonnade of the Neues Museum at Berlin after restoration.

Photographs N. Gutschow, 2008

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4 O więcim / Auschwitz, Poland: A corroded fencing pole of reinforced concrete in the Concentration Camp of Birkenau, erected in 1942, has not been replaced but carefully restored to ensure the material authenticity.

Photograph N. Gustchow, 2002

the early 1950s when the material evidence of the Holocaust was turned into a memorial. The site, covering 191 hectares with 155 built structures and 300 ruins, was declared a World Heritage Site in 1979—incidentally at the same convention when the seven sites of the Kathmandu Valley were declared a World Heritage.

With a growing flow of pilgrims and tourists, an extensive scheme was launched in 2000 to present the site with an information system, to preserve dilapidated and endangered objects and to reconstruct a few structures in order to make the former “order” of the camp, which at times housed 20,0000 detainees, more understandable.

Very critical was the restoration of the reinforced concrete poles of the electrified fence ( ig. ). These poles were not replaced but carefully reinstated. To preserve the authentic concrete was important to avoid the aesthetics and ambience of an educative theme park. Many victims lost their life at this fence, which was impossible to surmount.

In 2009 an Auschwitz Foundation was set up to ensure the continued preservation of the site and in 2012 the implementation of a detailed master plan was initiated.

An example of recent iconoclasm 5 Berlin, Altes Stadthaus (Town Hall), built in 1902, the eared stone architrave of the doorway was chipped away in 1956 and partly restored in 1996.

Photograph N. Gutschow, 2009

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Rare are the cases in which architecture is mutilated by acts of iconoclasm. The town hall (Altes Stadthaus) in Berlin, completed in 1911 as a pretentious, not to say downright tub-thumping, demonstration of municipal pride, was uniformly disliked and even condemned by art historians of the following generation, while conservationists took no interest in it at all until the 1980s.

This general feeling of distaste was instrumental in paving the way for the reshaping of the interior hall to fit the requirements of modern-style representation by the German Democratic Republic in 1956. This required chipping off all the projections on the eared architrave in stone that frame the doorways and covering all surfaces with plywood. The restoration efforts in 1994–2002 placed conservationists ( erlin’s office of conservation had moved to the same building) in a quandary. One

door frame was restored with its original moldings, others were partially restored, and the rest retained the scars of history, which were valued as authentic (Fig. 5). Restoration became a term of invective in Berlin because it was accused of constituting a practice that outrightly “falsifies” history.

The following two cases recall debates from the late 1960s and mid1990s, which demonstrate that the impulse to retain and display wounds of war has always been contested. With a hiatus of a generation or two, the emotional impact of the experience of violence seems to fade away. What has been an authentic material witness at one time often turns into a banal commemoration a generation later.

Cologne Cathedral — Healing a wound, regaining “heavenly perfection” Background

Cologne Cathedral constitutes the heart of the city, which was founded by the Romans two thousand years ago. The Cathedral is its undisputed major landmark.

In 1248 the foundations of the present cathedral were laid. There followed a 300-year building period based on inspiring examples of Gothic architecture in France.

Three hundred years later again, the Romantic period with its veneration for “the great German Middle Ages” created new interest in the oldest and largest building site in Cologne. As a symbol of newly emerging national awareness, the cathedral was finally completed between 1842 and 1880.

After completion, the workshop of the cathedral (Ger. Dombauhütte) remained active to ensure ongoing repair work. Ever since, a staff of more than sixty people, among them thirty specialized craftsmen, have been entrusted with the job of conserving the cathedral. Sixty percent of the annual costs are covered by the Central Cathedral Construction Society, which was founded in 1842 and today has almost 13,000 members worldwide.

In the summer, more than 20,000 tourists visit the cathedral daily. In 1996 the cathedral was included in the World Heritage List.

Healing a wound, regaining “heavenly perfection” On 3 November 1943 a bomb hit an abutment of the cathedral’s northern tower. By the end of the year, the site was cleared and 27,500 bricks used to fill the gap torn by the impact of the bomb (Fig. 6. 7). The brickwork was nicknamed “die Plombe”, the German word for a tooth filling. Involved in the work of filling the gap were army personnel, ten prisoners of war, and 20 “convicts”, a euphemism for inmates of an outpost of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Remarkably, two fragments of the abutment were retrieved from the rubble and incorporated into the brickwork as spolia.

For the next half century, this “emergency repair” was the subject of heated debate. One party insisted on the maintenance and preservation of the “filling” in memory of the “inferno of the Second World War”, while the other side demanded that “the venerable face” of the edifice be restored. This discussion came to an end in the mid1990s when the lower end of the abutment was consolidated and the master builder of the cathedral announced his intention to remove the filling. Historians argued that this “evidence” of the Second World War was still needed as “a monument and memorial.” In 1995, the master builder, Arnold Wolff, was of a different opinion and finally resolved to submit a formal application for permission to act in accordance with the conservation law. He argued that the cathedral is first of all a church, “a house of God and a place of worship”, which should not be misappropriated for alien purposes. In his view, the march of time would ultimately make it impossible for uninformed visitors to understand why there should be brickwork on a sandstone church. More importantly, the totality of the cathedral, regarded as a “work of art” (Gesamtkunstwerk), would lose “an important part of its identity” if “traces of its history are valued higher than the meaning invested in the edifice by the original build-

ers.” According to Wolff, the wholeness and integrity of the cathedral constitute its “inner essence”.

The master builder also emphasized that the builders of Gothic cathedrals aimed at the highest possible perfection. Taking into account the inadequacies of earthly life, at least the building of a church should mirror “heavenly perfection”. Criticizing the cathedral building for attempting to create the illusion of a perfect world was considered an unsubstantiated accusation.

In March 1996 building permission was granted; actual work on the site started in 2004 and was completed

by August 2005 (Fig. 8). 103 cubic meters of sandstone were built into the structure. 823 stones were cut to size, and 124 sophisticated sculptural elements such as capitals, finials, and crabs were fashioned.

6,7,8 Cologne Cathedral. In November 1943 the abutment of the northern tower was hit by a bomb; the gap was filled with bricks. In 2008 the “tooth filling” (Plombe) was removed to restore the abutment in Gothic style in order to regain “heavenly perfection”.

Source: Postcard Ziethen-Verlag, ca.

1995, and Schock-Werner, 2005

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Conservation principles in change Altogether fourteen bombs hit the Cologne Cathedral during the Second World War. By 1956 most of the damage had been remedied. The first master builder of the cathedral after the war had favored “creative conservation”, designing lost details anew rather than copying the originals. He shared the widespread contempt for Gothic revivalism and in 1972 designed the crossing tower in a contemporary, stylized Gothic mode.

11 Nara, Horyu-ji temple, the inner columns of the 7th century hall were charred by fire in 19 9 and removed to a shrine-like storage to preserve the authentic elements.

Photograph N. Gutschow, 1996

Under the guidance of his successor, conservation practice changed dramatically in the wake of a new appreciation for the nineteenth-century Gothic revival. As of the 1980s at the latest, the replacement of sculptural elements adhered strictly to the prototypes that had been preserved. Details and even whole sculptures that had been weather-damaged out of all recognition were removed from their original location and replaced by copies. This policy has continued under the leadership of Arnold Wolff’s successor, Barbara Schock-Werner, from 1998 to 2012 the first female master builder of the site. Large sculptures are constantly being removed for repair or replacement. Weather-damaged parts are faithfully copied from existing nineteenth-century design drawings and models in gesso, 700 of which have been preserved. If there is no model to work from, missing parts are added in gesso on the basis of photographs and in analogy with similar sculptures. The archive of the workshop houses, as it were, the “true” elements of the cathedral. It would sound overly provocative to call this treasure the “authentic” core of the cathedral.

The master builder refers to the final product not as a copy but as a re-creation, with an emphasis on “creation”. In 2004, 7,262 cubic meters of stone (sandstone, limestone, basalt, and trachyte) from five locations in Europe were used for this purpose, in 2005 a total of 15,525 cubic meters. These figures suggest large-scale renewal, but in fact all the work of this nature is confined to the surface of the monumental cathedral. Nine-

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ty-eight percent of the entire building material is original, mainly dating back to the period when the edifice was completed in the nineteenth century.

The master builder concedes that the approach adopted in Cologne cannot be generalized. For instance, Freiburg Cathedral (built 1200–1513) is an “original” or “authentic” Gothic cathedral, so copies or re-creations are out of the question. Since 1889 the workshop of the cathedral has strictly adhered to the principle “conservation, not restoration,” vehemently advocated by German conservationists in 1901.

The case of Cologne Cathedral indicates that in actual practice powerful principles do not in fact withstand the “test of authenticity.” Gothic revivalism was first abhorred, later rehabilitated. But some value judgements have prevailed: true or “authentic” medieval architecture cannot be copied, but its nineteenth-century revival is obviously less “authentic” and hence admits of copying and even re-creation.

Part III Japan The Japanese Practice in the aftermath of fire, 1949 and 1952

Enshrining identity—the preservation of fragments of the hall of the Hōryū-ji temple after fire in 1949 in Japan Throughout history, fire has caused an inevitable loss of the Japan’s building heritage. Subsequent rebuilding has always led to more or less fundamental changes in construction methods, in shape and scale. The charred fragments of the Hōry -ji were treated in a completely different fashion after the temple was gutted by fire in 1949. Dating back to 679 and dismantled three times in the early twelfth century and again in 1374 and 1603, the hall (Kon-dō) of the extended temple complex nevertheless is said to have preserved the original configuration, with the original timber elements. As it was one

of the iconic monuments of the country, said to be the oldest extant wooden structure on earth, it was dismantled for repair in 1934. On 26 January 1949 the core structure with its 28 columns, brackets and cross beams were exposed to fire for a few hours, charring the surface to a depth of three centimeters. The preservation of the seventh-century building components was considered so important that they were consolidated with synthetic resin and moved to a fire-proof shelter, while the hall received replacements. The storehouse preserves these columns in their original configuration as if this profane building were a shrine. The charred fragments obviously constituted the identity of the much revered monument and as such they are kept in close proximity to the replacements. They are not displayed for the public, but kept enshrined as if representing the priceless grail, the origin of the country’s built heritage. Only on rare occasions are professionals granted access to them in an act of guarded secrecy (Fig. 9).

Rebuilding after dismantling (1898–1908) and reconstruction after loss in fire (1952 1953) of the Kinkaku-ji temple in Kyoto, Japan A prominent example of contested identity discusses the reconstructions of the Kinkaku-ji (“Golden Pavilion Temple,” officially called Rokuon-ji, “Deer Garden Temple”)—widely recognized as the expression of something quintessentially Japanese. Built in the fourteenth century, the temple constitutes one of the first national treasures (Jap. kokuhō) according to the Law for the Preservation of Ancient Shrines and Temples of 1897. It was totally dismantled in 1908 and painstakingly reassembled. The temple was gutted by fire in 1952 ( ig. 10) and subsequently reconstructed, based on the detailed measurements of every timber element done in 1908.

Having lost its material authenticity, the new structure (Jap. saiken) was no longer considered a national treasure and subsequently delisted (Fig. 11).

When thirteen sites in Kyoto were inscribed in the World

Heritage list in 1994 as a collective entry, the Rokuon-ji garden was included, but without the Kinkaku-ji, the prominent landmark of the garden. As a replica of the lost temple, the forty-year-old structure was considered inauthentic in terms of the World Heritage Conservation Guidelines. The Japanese authorities elected not to enter into a debate about the values inherent in the basically occidental term of “Authenticity”.

Thoughts about the originality of the present temple, or rather the authenticity of its reconstruction, were put forward by the author Douglas Adams (1952–2001).

Adams must have visited the Kinkaku-ji in the early 1990s, because in 1992 he recalls his visit in Last Chance to See and presents an anecdote that illustrates Theseus’ paradox in a Japanese context.

Adams recalls how he was “mildly surprised at quite how well it had weathered the passage of time since it was first built in the fourteenth century.” He was told “it hadn’t weathered well at all, and had in fact been burnt to the ground twice in this century.” He realized that it was not “the original building,” but his guide, not being acquainted with the doctrine of conservation, insisted that it would always be “the same building.” The author continues: “I had to admit to myself that this was in fact a perfectly rational point of view, it merely started from an unexpected premise. The idea of the building, the intention of it, its design, are all immutable and are the essence of the building. The intention of the original builders is what survives. The wood of which the design is constructed decays and is replaced when necessary. To be overly concerned with the original materials, which are merely sentimental souvenirs of the past, is to fail to see the living building itself.”

9, 10 Kyoto, Kinkaku-ji. Revered as a priceless symbol of Japaneseness, the temple was lost to fire in 1952 and faithfully reconstructed in the following year. The garden was listed as World Heritage but the temple excluded as an inauthentic replica.

Photographs public domain and N. Gutschow, 1997

Adams’ words pinpoint the issue of material authenticity better than any essay by a conservation professional aiming at a denial of the identity of the temple. Adams does stretch his point somewhat by qualifying “original material” as a “sentimental souvenir of the past.” But in 35

tutionalization within the bureaucracy of colonial rule in the early 20th century, protection and conservation became a major concern. The restoration of the gateway of Akbar’s Tomb (built 1605–13) in Agra was one of the first undertakings that included the completion of the lost minarets on the basis “of an understanding of Mughal architecture”, as Ratish Nanda, projects director of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture recently wrote. As viceroy of India, Lord Curzon appointed John Marshall as Director General in 1902. Marshall, who served until 1928, established general principles for the maintenance of “antiquarian relics”, which in most cases were found in a ruinous state. Devoid of any contemporary use, protected monuments are, still today, taken care of by the state. Marshall’s Conservation Manual, first published in 1923, set the standards for any intervention.

12, 13 Khajuraho, Lakshmana temple, completed in 954 CE. Uncarved stone indicates the location of a former niche, following the rules set by John Marshall in 1923 by avoiding any recapturing of carved details.

Photograph N. Gutschow, 1996

14 Aihole, Ravana Phadi Cave, 6th century CE. Three pillars were replicated, complete with their crossshaped capitals, carved in shallow relief after an unknown example to present the small temple as part of a complex site.

Photograph N. Gutschow, 2010

so doing he clarifies the fact that material is but one aspect of authenticity and in a cultural context that differs considerably from that of, say, Germany where reconstruction issues are invariably highly controversial.

PART IV

The South Asian Experience: India and Nepal The legacy of the Archaeological Survey of India and the Conservation Manual by John Marshall (1923) With the establishment of the Archaeological Survey of India at the end of the 19th century and its insti36

Paragraph 23 of the manual says that “preservation should be primarily aimed at, and repair attempted only in cases where its advisability is undoubted”. Paragraph 25 explains: “Although there are many ancient buildings whose state of disrepair suggests at first sight a renewal, it should never be forgotten that their historical value is gone when their authenticity is destroyed, and that our first duty is not to renew them but to preserve them” (italics in the original). This statement is in line with the European 19th century romantic view of ruins and the dogma of “age value”, which is based on the preference of material authenticity.

Repair was confined to the use of “any carved stones or bricks or any pieces of tilework that are found lying in the débris on old sites” to be “restored, if possible, to their former positions, provided always that no doubt exists as to what those positions were” (§ 85). The utmost concession was granted to “living monuments of the Muhamadan epoch”, for which “the reproduction of geometric design is sometimes admissible” (§ 84).

The most far-reaching prescription pertained to sculptural work: “The repair of divine or human figures is never to be attempted and that of free floral designs only

in very exceptional cases. Empty niches should remain empty if their images are lost; and the spaces occupied by images in friezes and string courses should, in repaired portions, be left blank” (§83).

15 Amritsar, India. Built in 1961, the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial is dedicated to the massacre of 1919. Bullet holes in the wall are indicated.

A lot of a debate had been going on in what way this distanced view of an archaeologist in colonial service conflicted with practices of renewal in India down to the present day. Ironically, the Archaeological Survey of India broke these rules at many sites (Figs. 12, 13 and 14) with the result that budget constraints resulted in dubious works.

Source: public domain

The tragedy is that Nepal’s Ancient Monument Preservation Act, promulgated in 1956 and amended a couple of times, copied the Indian example. Nepal has quite a few ruins in the far western districts; these escaped the attention of the central administration until very recently. The Newar architectural heritage of the Kathmandu Valley, however, has no ruins, because temples, palaces and monastic buildings had been maintained from the earliest times, and in cases of neglect or loss repaired, rebuilt or replaced. All of these structures are embedded in living religious and cultural traditions.

To keep empty niches empty and parts of friezes blank, as the Conservation Manual prescribes, would not only demonstrate utter neglect and carelessness, but would be felt as an insult. The Department of Archaeology of Nepal, in fact, has never abided by these rules, but felt repeatedly impelled to justify local practices and the demands of the communities. However, in disregard of the local practices, even the recently “Basic Guidelines for the Preservation and Rebuilding of Monuments damaged in the Earthquake, 2072 (2016)”, phrased by the Department of Archaeology, prescribes under paragraph 32 c the use of “uncarved elements resembling the original size, type and quality” in case evidence is lacking.

Moreover, “no gods and goddesses, or other images may be carved based on conjecture”. It will probably be left to the demands of the “local residents” as mentioned in

16, 17 Satrunjaya in Gujarat, India. The surface of Jain temples is cyclically removed and restored to achieve perfection.

§13 of the Guidelines to avoid blank surfaces and to replicate deities, the iconographical details of which in most cases is common knowledge.

Photograph N. Gutschow, 2009

Practices in India, between conservation and beautification Ruins and memorials Bagh in Amritsar

the memorial at Jallianwala

Memorials to violence are not only found in Europe. A memorial recalling colonial terror is found at Amritsar, India, where at the Jallianwala Bagh, a large walled garden in the heart of the city, troops were given free rein to gun down the people assembling for an unauthorized public meeting on 13 April 1919, the date commemorating the founding of the Sikh religion. More than 37

sculptures), the clustered elegant profiles of the towers and the double-storey porches are all”, as George Mitchell writes, “characteristic of the final phase of western Indian temple architecture.”

18, 19 Delhi, Humayun’s Tomb. The restoration in 2009 aimed at reviving the original intentions of the builder. Decorative plaster has been renewed and latticework of windows in red sandstone has been replicated in analogy to preserved patterns.

The repair of stonework follows the spirit of the architecture. View from the south and window of the western gate in November 2009.

Photograph N. Gutschow, 2009

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1,000 people were killed. A trust was set up in memory of this atrocity and a memorial built in 1961, designed by the Kolkata-based American architect Benjamin Polk. Bullet holes in preserved parts of the walls have been marked with metal plates and the Martyrs’ Well, in which frightened victims took refuge, is a protected monument (Fig. 14).

The preference for perfect, even beautified surfaces: Jain temples South Asian societies do not share with Westerners the predilection for patina, for scars and scratches. The cyclic renewal of the plaster of the Jain temples on the sacred mountain of Satrunjaya in Gujarat, India, serves as a good example, to document the preference for immaculate surfaces. The mountain, located near the south-eastern shore of Saurashtra, rises about 600 meters above the plains and is topped by a complex of temples with 863 buildings. The hill is held sacred by the followers of Jainism. Despite the emphasis on monastic discipline, the Jains developed into a wealthy mercantile community and have figured as patrons of temple architecture to the present day. The earliest temples on Satrunjaya Hill date back to the sixteenth century, but most of them were constructed in the nineteenth century, owing their existence to donations from rich merchants of Ahmedabad (Fig. 16). “The relatively unadorned outer walls (no

Almost all the temples have been constructed with stone from Dranghadra, a material that displays a rough surface when shaped or transformed into sculptures. This surface was coated with layers of plaster. Exposed to sun and rain, this surface develops hair-line cracks and changes in color. Within a decade, the temples take on a dirty grey appearance instrumental in prompting donors to renew the coat of plaster (Fig. 17). Under the guidance of local masters, the sompura, craftsmen recreate the sculptured struts and pilasters at irregular intervals every thirty to forty years. In contrast to the European doctrine, which propagates patina and excludes any intervention, the renewal of the plaster surface is an exercise in reverence.

Appreciation is bestowed not on the “age value” of a temple, but on the splendor of a renewed coat of plaster, radiant in the bright sun. The quality of the work is assured, with funds provided by trusts. The Jain temples at Satrunjaya are not listed as protected monuments because they are managed by private trusts and are still in active religious use. The trusts are invested with the full authority required for preservation of the temples by means of cyclical restoration.

The restoration of Humayun’s Tomb, 2007 to 2012 The building of Emperor Humayun’s (1508–56 CE) tomb was initiated by his son Akbar, the third of the great Mughal rulers in 1566. It was constructed under the supervision of Mirak Mirza Ghiyas from Persia; it was the first of the great Mughal tombs on the Indian subcontinent and the precursor of the famed Taj Mahal, built eighty years later. The tomb was designated a World Heritage Site in 1993, and in 1997 the Aga Khan Trust for Culture offered to join forces with the Archae-

ological Survey of India to restore the gardens, based on miniatures, paintings and photographs dating as far back as 1849. This implied removing earlier attempts at restoration, and in 2003 water was brought back to the garden after an interim of 400 years.

The restoration of the Tomb started in 2007 with the removal of millions of kilos of cement concrete from the roof of the structure, including the latest layer added by the Archaeological Survey of India in 2004 (Fig. 19). Similarly, the plinth of the tomb, paved with large stone blocks, was covered with cement concrete in the late 1950s to level the ground. The project decided to restore the original level; missing grey quartzite stone blocks were replaced by those used as kerbstones on Delhi roads. After much debate, including objections by the Archaeological Survey of India which considered the 20th century layer of concrete as authentic, 4,200 square meters of paving were restored. To “restore material integrity”, the project removed all cement from walls and floors and restored these with lime plaster and lime concrete.

A major challenge was the restoration of the tilework of the canopies. Four years of research and collaboration with craftsmen from Uzbekistan in 2010 cleared the way for the much contested restoration, which the project considered equivalent to “a prominent intention of the original builders”. There was no need to resort to conjecture as the preserved tiles provided the necessary information regarding size and color for the reproduction of the missing tiles, which at one time had been replaced by cement mortar.

In a recent summary the project architect Ratish Nanda wrote: “In an attempt to overcome the inappropriate attitudes evinced in preceding colonial and postcolonial conservation efforts, recent restoration works aim at reviving the original intentions of the builders, the authenticity of the materials and crafts techniques used, and the architectural integrity of the mausoleum. With a special focus on analogy and material integrity, architec-

tural patterns have been restored on the basis of extant sixteenth-century prototypes.” (Fig. 18)

Practices in Nepal: Maintenance, repair, replacement and restoration (jirnoddhara)

A general review of replacement and rebuilding, 15th to 19th centuries Almost nothing is known about the history of repairs, restoration and replacement because serious research just started little more than a generation ago. Take, for example, the ongoing discussion about the origin and history of the Kasthamandapa. Based on inscriptions and chronicles, the large pillared hall-cum-shrine is often presented as a 13th or 15th century building, but many repair schemes, the most recent one carried out in 1966 as the first major project guided by the Department of Archaeology, have replaced and added a number of architectural elements. Just recently, the American anthropologist and art historian Mary Slusser dated the carved frieze of the lower level balcony to the early 18th century, based on stylistic comparisons. Similarly, the shape of the portals of Kathmandu’s Taleju temple suggests a replacement in the early 19th century, although to this day all cultural historians date the temple to 1564. The great and most ancient temples of Cangu Narayana and Pashupatinatha were totally replaced in 1696 and 1708, leaving no evidence of the previous structures. In all probability, the thresholds of the Cangu temple were shortened to allow rebuilding on a smaller scale. The carvings of that temple demonstrate inferior craftsmanship and obviously do not incorporate any element of the previous temple. The collapse of the Kumbheshvara temple in 1808 represents an even more complex situation. Only a few architectural elements date to the renewal of the temple in the 1680s. For whatever reason, the thresholds in the east-west direction were shortened and the lintels of the portals simply cut to fit into the new configuration.

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20 Patan, the 16th century Manicaitya at the northern end of the Darbar Square: beautification in 2015 by a flimsy enclosure of flimsy rods, with prayer wheels in the corners, a canopy and a frill of fabric.

Photograph N. Gutschow, 2015.

21 Kathmandu, Tripureshvara temple, built in 1818, collapsed in the 1934 earthquake and rebuilt in the following years with a cornice molded in concrete and dispensing with the latticed screens between the struts.

Photograph N. Gutschow, 2007

The most complex story, however, is told by the development of the Yakseshvara temple in Bhaktapur. Only the southern portal dates to the early 15th century, a date based on radiocarbon testing. A stylistic analysis of the three remaining portals suggests a 16th, 17th and even 19th century origin. For whatever reasons— lack of resources, fading interest in a changed political landscape, pressure of time—the eastern portal is barely carved. Even the wall brackets were left uncarved. The design ofthe portal was not changed or “modernized”, but the surface remained blank. This had happened already a few centuries earlier, when the northern, eastern and southern portals of the Indreshvara temple in Panauti were installed in a rudimentary fashion, with the lintel ends, the quarter round panels, the wall brackets and the blocks above the threshold ends left uncarved.

It is also worth mentioning that almost all of the two hundred Buddhist votive structures of the Licchavi period (5th–9th centuries), known as Caityas or Stupas, were reconfigured and even relocated in the first half of the 17th century. Very few of these are preserved in their original configuration. Pedestal, lower storeys, drum, dome and pinnacle have often been reassembled or incorporated into a 17th or 18th century Caitya to gain a “new life”.

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The most intrusive change occurred when, after the earthquakes of 1808, 1833 and 1934, tiered temples were replaced by domed ones to comply with Anglo-Indian architectural norms, which were mainly imported from Lucknow, the flourishing center of North India at the end of the 18th and early 19th century. The following suggestions are not well established, but most probably the Jagannatha temple at Kathmandu’s Tundikhel field was replaced by the first domed structure in the valley in 1809, and after 1833 the tiered temple of Matsyendranath in Bungamati was replaced by a Shikhara temple. After the 1934 earthquake, quite a number of tiered temples or temples with a Shikhara tower were renewed with a dome on top; to name only a couple, the Vishveshvara temple (Bhaidegah) on Patan’s Darbār Square or the Silumahadyah on haktapur Darbar Square which subsequently was named “Pumpkin Temple” (Phasidegah). Many of the Shikhara temples, heavily damaged in the 1934 earthquake (Vatsala and Siddhilakshmi temples in Bhaktapur, Krishna temple in Patan), were hastily rebuilt, causing their collapse or critical condition in 2015.

The impulse to beautify and simplify Since the earliest time, the impulse to beautify has had a number of consequences. From the thirteenth century, the chronicles refer to the replacement of tiled roofs with gilt copper roofing. The same is true for the covering up of tympana and entire door frames with gilt repoussé work in copper or even silver. The Pashupatinath temple serves as a good example: Amar Singh had the northern portal covered by gilt copper in 1814, and Kulananda Jha covered the western portal in 1818. Prime Minister Ranaodip Singh donated the marble flooring in 1880, Chanda Shumsher Rana repaired the gilt roofs in 1925, and King Mahendra had the gilt roofs renewed on the occasion of his coronation in 1956. King Birendra followed suit in 1975, donating the ceiling in silver.

With sheet copper imported from Japan easily available

at present, the replacement of tile roofs by rich merchants or local communities became a pervasive practice, while the ever increasing price of gold leads to the gilding being replaced by gold bronze or yellow enamel paint. As steward of conservation, the authorized Department of Archaeology has no control whatsoever.

To the disgust of conservationists, donations from devotees have resulted in additions such as canopies, railings, and large-scale iron grids of very inferior craftsmanship.

Obviously, contemporary donors have become stingy. Examples of such dubious donations can be seen at Vambaha in Patan, where the most precious 6th-century Caitya was encircled by a railing in 2010, and the Manicaitya on Patan’s Darbar Square in 2014 (Fig. 20). To beautify or to add to a religious structure is a meritorious act which cannot be channeled by an agency. In the context of living traditions, it just happens. Worth mentioning in this context is the covering of the outstanding 15th century lintel ends of the principal entrance of the Ibahabahi with gold bronze in October 2013 on the occasion of the Dasain festival.

Tradition and change eautification and the desire to accumulate merit have to be considered as traditional attitudes. In contrast, conservation has rather to be understood as an intellectual and educational attitude adopted by a society that is alienated from its past. The context is lost. It is the material evidence, the artistic accomplishment that is worshipped and identified with. This identification can even lead to emotional attachment, albeit based on education or even agitation. In Nepal, an alienation of this kind began only very recently with the schooling of all children, the increasing loss of historical fabric in the wake of an aggressive urban development, real estate business, and the 2015 earthquake.

Almost all of a sudden, ethnicity and customs became a concern, and advocates of vegetarianism are fighting

animal sacrifice in the name of Ahimsa (the precept of non-violence). Among Newars, the age-old funeral associations are about to dissolve as they are unable to cope with inter-caste and inter-ethnic marriages. But the Supernaturals remain powerful: almost every household continues to pacify the deities and spirits of the neighborhood in the early morning and on the occasion of the annual worship of the ancestors (Sorashraddha), even King Birendra or the famous Malla kings such as Bhupatindra receiving their share in the shape of a dumpling of wheat flour.

The coming generation will inevitably enter into a never-ending process of re-evaluation of the legacy of the past and reconcile traditional religious practices with values that have gradually evolved with the modernization of society and the advent of global aesthetic norms in connection with work and leisure, education and science.

22 Chauni, earthquake memorial, displaying a twisted double-T-girder beside Juddha Shamsher Rana at the premises of the National Museum, erected ca. 1938.

Photograph N. Gutschow, 2008

Fundamental changes in rebuilding: The example of the Tripureśvara temple in Kathmandu after the 1934 earthquake The Tripureshvara temple was established in 1818 in the center of a large quadrangle along the Bagmati River in Kathmandu. The donor, Queen Lalita Tripurasundari, who initiated the construction in memory of her spouse, King Rana Bahadur Shah (1755–1806), completed the building within 14 months. Acting as Regent, she used her position and the financial resources of the country to construct a powerful memorial, rivalling in size Kathmandu’s Taleju temple. The design incorporated mid-18th century innovations, but followed largely the prototype of the triple-tiered temple, established by the Gokarneshvara temple at the end of the 16th century.

23 Bhaktapur, Nyatapvala temple. In 1962 the Public Works Department carried out an extensive beautification scheme which included filling cracks on columns which occurred at the time of construction in 1702 – with cement and covering all woodwork with paint.

Photograph N. Gutschow, 2007

Photographs have not been found, but recent research suggests a dismantling and total reconstruction after the 1934 earthquake. Most striking is the incorporation of exposed latticed windows in the first level, because the 41

original latticework, once filling the gaps between the struts, had not been replaced. Equally striking is the use of casting molds to reproduce the stepped cornice above the ground floor in concrete ( ig. 21). This probably constitutes the first introduction of modern material in the context of an extensive repair and rebuilding scheme.

Lime mortar made its way into the architecture of the Kathmandu Valley in the 1820s, when Bhimsen Thapa developed the ambition to emulate the artistic splendor of Lucknow. Italian marble arrived through Calcutta only a little later, and cast iron pillars and steel girders were being imported from Sheffield from the 1880s.

These innovations did not prevent the collapse of many of the Rana palaces in the 1934 earthquake. Twisted double T-girders can be seen at the National Museum in Chauni, incorporated into an Earthquake Memorial (Fig. 22).

24 Patan, Sundari Cok. Replacement of Ganesha, one of the 18 protective deities flanking the principal doorway of the south wing, carved

by Indra Kaji Shilpakar in 2013.

Photograph Ashesh Rajbansh, 2015

In many ways, the rebuilding of the Tripureshvara temple stands for a project that largely failed to reorganize the iconographical details. It is not known what happened to the original thresholds. The short replacements in stone resulted in the abrupt ending of the outer stepped frame (puratva) above brickwork. A few of the Mother Goddesses of the quarter round panels and the wall brackets have clumsily been replaced and installed in a wrong sequence and many decorative details have been simplified. Obviously, there was no ambition to replicate the missing elements in analogy to the preserved ones. Cursory supervision and lack of funds must have led to a blatant loss of quality.

Beautification of the Nyatapvala temple in Bhaktapur by the Public Works Department in 1963 The case of the “restoration” of the Nyatapvala temple (literally the “five-roofed”) in haktapur in 1963 documents the impulse to beautify in quite a different context. This temple is a good example of the Nepalese “pagoda” style of architecture. However, “pagoda” is an inappropriate, originally derogatory Portuguese term

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for heathen temples, and in a tourist context it is used for any towering “oriental” or simply picturesque structure between India and Japan. The temple was built in 197 days and completed on 26 June 1702 to house Siddhilakshmi, the personal goddess of King Bhupatindra Malla. No one has access to the sanctum except a Tantric priest who serves the deity every morning. Accordingly, the building has little significance for the people of the city, who primarily worship chthonic, earthbound deities that demand blood sacrifices.

Surprisingly, the temple stands intact on a terraced plinth, having survived the devastating earthquakes of 1833, 1934, and the most recent one on 25 April 2015, which inflicted only minor damage to the top tier. In 1963, King Mahendra had the temple restored, or rather beautified (the Sanskrit term j r oddhāra refers to anything from maintenance and major renewal to total replacement) by the Public Works Department (Nep. bhawan bibag). An extensive beautification program included the renewal of the front layer of bricks on the plinths with red cement mortar, painting the sanctum walls red, with yellow lines to indicate the joints, and decking out all the woodwork in gay colors. Most revealing of all is the fact that all cracks in the woodwork (carving was always done on fresh hard wood of the Sal variety, which regularly developed cracks) were covered with cement mortar to create a smooth surface for the covering paint (Fig. 23).

With no understanding of the values inherent in the historic architecture of the Newars, who created a unique urban culture in the Kathmandu Valley, the overseers of the Public Works Department, who were educated in the use of brick-dust plaster, whitewashing and enamel paints, ignored the surface of the original material – Newar craftsmen never colored brickwork or wood. The ultimate aim of the overseers was to beautify the temple in line with Indian color schemes.

At the time of King Mahendra, the obligations of the

Department of Archaeology were not yet well-defined.

It was established simply as an administrative act in fulfilment of the requirements of a modern state. The example demonstrates that beyond maintenance and beautification, the western concept of conservation appeared to be alien to Nepal.

Nepal’s Potemkin villages: hurried activities on special occasions The Department of Archaeology and the Public Works Department have repeatedly been allotted special funds on certain occasions such as the coronation of the king or the convention of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) meetings. On the occasion of King Birendra’s coronation in February 1975, the traditional door leaves with simple, uncarved flat surfaces of Sundari Cok in Patan and the Fifty-Five-Window Palace in Bhaktapur were replaced by new ones with carved decorative elements, which at that time were already favored by the tourism industry. Moreover, the sixteen protective deities of the niches that flank the courtyard doors of Sundari Cok, which had got lost, were replaced by replicas of inferior quality. On the occasion of the

restoration of Sundari Cok, these were removed and replaced in 2013 by new ones, created by master carver Indra Kaji Silpakar from Bhaktapur (Fig. 24). On the occasion of the third SAARC summit in Nepal in November 1987, the pavement and the plinth around the courtyard of Patan’s Mulcok were renewed with tiles and incompatible modern-style bricks. These were taken out in 2011 to reveal the original brick pavement; the plinths were reshaped with traditional veneer bricks. Moreover, two tympana were replaced in 1975 on the courtyard’s south wing, as well as two struts and the bay window of the north wing.

25, 26 Bhaktapur, Yaksheshvara temple, portal east in 2008 with carved wall brackets, and detail of the northern end with an uncarved wall bracket in 1990.

Photographs S. Klimek, 2008 and N. Gutschow 1990

The beautification budget for the eighteenth summit in Nepal in November 2014 was released too late and ended in frantic activities with the slogan “face-lifting”, which had already largely replaced the term “restoration” as a term for state-of-the-art intervention. Most of the budget was spent on paint, but in Bhaktapur the plinth of the long L-shaped arcade (Laykuphalca) at the eastern end of the Darbar Square was dismantled, the original moulded bricks of the 1680s discarded and replaced by new brickwork.

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On the occasion of state visits, for example, the visit

by Marshal Tito in 1974, the palace fronts were often painted red, with yellow lines indicating the joints of bricks. Until recently it was also common practice to cover the woodwork of palaces and temples with a thin black varnish on the occasion of Dasain, the great festival of renewal in autumn that heralds the beginning of harvest. At Mulcok and Sundari Cok, this coat of paint had painstakingly been removed since 2008. The carved and uncarved woodwork now radiates again with its original wooden surface. In contrast to many other wooden architectural traditions of the world, Newar architecture was never painted, but occasionally covered with gilt repoussé work in copper.

Restoration of the Yaksheshvara temple in Bhaktapur in ca. 1999 The development of the four portals of the temple over a period of probably five hundred years has already been presented above. In a stark deviation from the three portals in the south, west and north, the eastern portal remained practically uncarved (Fig. 25). The protective hairava figures in the blocks above the threshold ends have been reused from an earlier version of the portals, predating its renewal in the early 19th century. It is not known whether the Mother Goddesses of the quarter round panels date to an earlier period. Apart from the lintel ends, the wall brackets, too, remained uncarved till very recently. Likewise the quarter round panels of the western portal remained without any deity.

An extensive repair and restoration scheme of the entire temple was initiated by the municipality in 1998, which mainly aimed at renewing the roofing and the stabilization of the struts by introducing additional narrow timber elements to add to the bearing capacity of the heavy roof load. At about the same time, the uncarved wall brackets were perceived as forbidding and decided to complete what had been left incomplete—probably two hundred years earlier (Fig. 26). In 2016 it appeared difficult to trace the initiating agency or individual donor.

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The impulse was similar to that of the architect of the cathedral in Cologne (see above), who wanted the cathedral in a perfect state of repair to be worthy as “a place of God and worship”. This latest incident of not only replacing a destroyed or stolen deity, but completing a well-known scheme of a pair of tree spirits demonstrates local practices and aspirations. The new wall brackets have been carved as replicas of the northern portal’s details.

The present debate in Nepal about the justification of replicating figural details of temples that collapsed in the 2015 earthquake mirrors an international controversy that was first brought up by the Venice Charter of 196 .

It is based on the vision of universally valid objectives.

The background in Nepal is decidedly different: based on age-old craftsmanship there has never been a gap in transmitting traditions. Carpenters as well as painters are well aware of the fact that their creations constitute simply dead material before the eyes of a deity is opened with the tip of a chisel or brush of the artist. This action, in fact, turns the craftsman into a para-priest.

The intangible value of craftsmanship among Newar craftsmen Acknowledging indigenous knowledge systems

The authenticity of specialized crafts has rarely attracted the attention of professionals in the field of conservation. Jukka Jokilehto mentioned “workmanship” in his deliberations on authenticities, but the creative hands behind such workmanship remain vaguely delineated.

Lowenthal refers to the “personal and cultural milieu” of the creator as possibly adding to the “faithfulness of context”. In an industrialized country, the creator, be he a craftsman or craftswoman, has undergone an apprenticeship and has eventually become a restorer endowed with highly sophisticated skills, if not with a scientific background. In South Asia, a craftsman traditionally starts learning his trade from his father, beginning as soon as he can hold a tool. In a stratified society based

on caste membership, he is born a carpenter or mason (there are no women carpenters or masons), stone carver or coppersmith, painter, gilder or dyer. This hereditary background possibly authenticates his creations, always provided that the financial resources available will enable him to invest as much time as is necessary in achieving the highest possible quality.

In his seminal article published in 1989, A.G. Krishna Menon, the Indian architect and conservation activist, pointed out that by following the practices of the West, “we [in India] pay the price by alienating the objectives of conservation from the genius of the country”. For Menon, the “genius of the country” not only lies in the meaning of place and site but in the survival of intangible values such as craftsmanship: “The present emphasis on antiquity of objects marginalizes the remarkable survival of craftspeople, rituals and customs which are equally important in informing of the nature of our past”. Menon even goes so far as to claim that “in India, we have one of the few instances in the world, where genuine authenticity could still be created in a viable dialogue between the imperatives of tradition and modernity.” In his radical engagement with the concept of authenticity, Menon obviously acknowledges no time limit. Authenticity is not exclusively bound up with a cultural product of the past. Authenticity is a quality inherent in the hands that still create genuine products.

Menon’s observations were shared by professionals of neighboring countries: a “Bangkok Charter” was discussed in Thailand in the late 1980s to justify the replacement of heads on mutilated Buddha statues. In May 1991 a conference in Kathmandu, convened by the Department of Archaeology in collaboration with the Goethe Institute, dared to phrase a few key assumptions which almost took the shape of a charter. It was said that “the existence of a living tradition ensures the survival of aesthetic values with an inherent quality of authenticity”.

27 Kathmandu, Svayambhucaitya.

Repair, replacement and gilding of the tympanum crowning the eastern niche, housing Akshobhya.

The project was implemented with funds from the Nyingma Meditation Center at Berkeley in 2008 –2010.

Photograph N. Gutschow, 2009

New “liberties” should not, Menon concedes, “be practiced on the exemplary monuments of our civilization, for they remain the authentic texts of a bygone era.”

But he draws attention to the “thousands of lesser monuments and historic buildings, which still exist in our contemporary landscape.” In an effort to sting the professional functionaries of conservation worldwide into a response, Menon even propagates the “conjectural restoration of such buildings, with a view to return them to productive use.” Similarly, Gamini Wijesuriya, an architect and conservationist from Sri Lanka, pointed out at a conference in memory of Alois Riegl in Vienna in April 2008 that ruling out any “conjecture” necessarily alienates “the followers for whom that heritage was actually created”.

In 2008, Menon made himself heard once again in the framework of a general questioning of the universal validity of the Venice Charter in the twenty-first century: “Its advocates […] have proselytized its message as an article of faith,” Menon maintains, to such an extent, that it “has displaced living cultural traditions”.

Menon’s perspective is surely highly idealistic. Many craftsmen in India no longer learn their trades from their fathers. Many of them have been trained in workshops.

In Nepal, by contrast, carpenters of the Newar sub-caste 45

of Sikarmi (or Shilpakar) still inherit their trade. They take up and perpetuate an unbroken tradition. In the same way members of the community of Shakya continue to produce sculptures in the lost-wax technique.

Their mastery enables them to perform on a high level.

Documented below, two recent projects at Patan and Svayambhu demonstrate what Menon called the creation of “genuine authenticity”. Familiar iconographical details had been recreated with confidence.

28, 29 , 30 Patan Ratneshvara temple. Replacement of a strut of the upper roof (left) in order to preserve the original in the Architecture Galleries of Patan Museum and recreation of lost struts on the basis of a photograph, 1998.

Drawing by B. Basukala, 1998, photographs by R. Ranjitkar

In his seminal contribution to a workshop in Bergen, organized in preparation and anticipation of the 1994 conference in Nara addressing “criteria of authenticity,” David Lowenthal also refers to “authenticities of process and representation.” He suggests that we “honour fidelity of processes and skills and their transmission from generation to generation” as “an alternative response to authentic doubts”. Lowenthal refers to the “Living National Treasures and their consummate skills in Japan and Korea” as a unique way indeed of appreciating what Menon has called “indigenous knowledge systems”.

Incidentally, in March 2011, The New York Times published an article titled “An Islamic Fantasia, Created by Authentic Craftsmen.” New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art had decided to create a medieval Maghrebi-Andalusian-style courtyard, an “Islamic fantasia”, for which the creator installed a group of “living artists” in the museum. Fourteen craftsmen from Fez were summoned for the purpose. They were referred to as “living historians who have carried on patterns and designs preserved in practice for generations.” To call a craftsman a “historian” may be a little inappropriate, but as the milieu is preserved, the work demonstrates authenticity.

Metal workers in the restoration of the Svayambhucaitya in 2010 Since 1979, the Stupa (Nep. caitya) of Svayambhu, a Buddhist votive structure located on a hill near Kathmandu, has been one of the seven sites constituting the

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Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site. The origins of the building are uncertain, but it dates back some 1,500 years. It has had to be repaired at irregular intervals when lightning struck the tree in the center of the domical base from which a complex spire arises. Elaborate rituals accompanied the replacement of the tree and the spire. The structure roughly attained its present shape in the early eighteenth century, but the entire gilt copper repoussé work (using copper sheets imported from Germany) that covers the spire and the niches was newly designed in 1918.

In 2008–2010, Tarthang Rinpoche from the Nyingma Meditation Center at Berkeley sponsored the repair of all copper work, the renewal of the gilding, and even the replacement of lost figures in the tympana above the niches. On 21 June 2010, the consecration rituals were performed by Trulshik Rinpoche from a helicopter that flew around the Stupa three times, dropping flowers from the sky.

The restoration of the gilding and the replacement of lost sculptural elements followed an age-old tradition (Fig. 27). Preservation of its “age value” was not an option, as the significance of the building is inevitably ensured by pious acts of renewal.

In Newar and also Tibetan Buddhism, worship takes place in the form of circumambulation of a stupa and offerings to the Transcendent Buddhas and their consorts in their respective nine niches. Important in this specific context is the conviction that a Stupa is not a mass of lifeless material, but an object imbued with life.

In Sanskrit this is referred to as jivanyasa. All structural interventions are preceded by pacificatory rituals. Ideally, a rope fastened to the tail of a cow initiates the process of dismantling, and the tools of the craftsmen are tipped with gold. The completion of any intervention involves the return of “life” to the structure, again accompanied by elaborate rituals.

Such a process of repair, replacement, and renewal is in the true sense a “restoration”, because the building is returned to the physical condition it was in prior to the intervention, “not at some previous stage of its morphological development”, as the term “restoration” is usually understood. The main aim was to achieve added value from renewing the surface—an action that in its essence sets out to ensure continuity not for the physical body of the Stupa, but for the transcendental body of the Buddha. In this process, the patina or “age value” of the surface had to be sacrificed and the missing figural d cor recreated. Insistence on compliance with the passages in John Marshall’s Conservation Manual (1923) or the Charter of Venice (1964) that rule out the replacement of figural details and require a contemporary stamp on replacements that are decorative in nature would have been out of place. Authentic in this case was the craftsmanship, which was in line with traditions of fire gilding. It was, as it were, the grandsons of those craftsmen from the Buddhist community of Shakya who cast the figures and hammered the repouss in 1918 who were engaged in the restoration and renewal.

The art of copying by wood carvers—the Ratneshvara experience, 1996–99

The example of the Svayambhu Stupa demonstrates that in a living religious context it is the donor’s wishes that guide the interventions. Curatorial agencies (in Nepal the Department of Archaeology) may be involved to ensure quality standards, but they are not in a position to insist on global principles that have no foundation in local cultural reality. The process of restoring and renewing the surface of the stupa must be regarded as authentic, because it is embedded in ritual and involves crafts based on generations of experience. Even the lime that is removed from the surface of the dome is not treated as waste, ready to be discarded. It has attained some kind of spiritual quality which is enshrined in a stupa that is newly constructed for that purpose.

Since the establishment of the Department of Archaeology in 1956, not a single roof strut of any temple had been replicated in good quality. In most cases financial constraints resulted in the installation of uncarved timber. In 1997, the Ratneshvara project initiated the copying of one of the surviving struts by Bhaktapur’s master carver Indra Kaji Silpakar (Figs. 28, 29, 30). To discuss alternatives, it was placed against an uncarved strut and a slightly molded strut. After two years of painful discussions all struts were finally re-carved, based on the initial experience. Two copies were based on photographs taken by the American anthropologist Mary Slusser in 1968 and four were based on her short descriptions, the memory of the neighbors and the expertise of Brahmin priests who act as caretakers of the neighboring esoteric shrine. Likewise, the elaborate tympanum was recreated, based on a photograph. The eight miniature aedicules (small shrine-like niches with a pediment) of the ground

One of the only three temples of the Newar architectural heritage of the Kathmandu Valley predating the 14th century stands in the middle of a small square in Patan.

It is dedicated to Shiva, manifested in his phallic form (linga), which is named Ratneshvara. With a host of other shrines, the square forms the center of the quarter of Sulima.

After years of research, documentation and fund-raising, the restoration of the small, two-storeyed temple started in 1996 and was completed in 1999 by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust. With parts of the roof collapsed and the roof struts missing, the temple was in a deplorable sate: Six of the eight roof struts supporting the lower roof had been stolen since the 1960s. They just disappeared, leaving no evidence in the catalogues of the auction houses in Geneva, London or New York. One strut was secured by a neighbor and one was salvaged from the ruin.

31 Patan, southern Manimandapa.

Replicating a column which was damaged beyond repair in the April 2015 earthquake.

Photograph: B. Basukala, 2015

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After completion, the architects of the project claimed that “historic buildings have the right to emerge from the process of conservation in dignity”. In Nepal, they continue, “this dignity often rules out stabilizing a building as it is found, as this would mean freezing ruins”.

The ultimate aim should be “a balance between creation and heritage conservation.”

31, 32

level were repaired. The design process for the missing colonnettes (30 cm high) relied on the identification, study, and measured drawings of comparable colonnettes which survived as fragments in various temples in Patan. The process of making drawings afforded the opportunity to clarify details that could be missed if the carver simply worked from a photograph.

To avoid another theft, the two original roof struts have been exhibited at the Architecture Galleries of the Patan Museum since June 2013. Ironically, two of the replacements have already been stolen and have had to be replaced again. Obviously, the exceptional quality deceived the thieves. The new tympanum was also stolen, retrieved and is now on display at the Architecture Galleries. The temple withstood the earthquake in April 2015, but the wall surface of the ground floor collapsed together with the aedicules; all of this was restored in the spring of 2016.

Patan 2016: The ongoing process of repair and The reproduction of meaningful iconographical details replacement at the Manimandapa, the Char on the basis of photographs or even short descriptions Narayana and Harishankara temples has to be understood as an appreciation of the performance of Newar wood carvers whose ancestors created the originals—if at all a difference has to be made between the “original” and the “copy”. The local cultural context does not allow such a distinction.

Uncarved struts are always despised and rejected by the local communities as an expression of disrespect and stinginess on behalf of the funding agency. In 1997, neither the Venice Charter nor any other charter or convention was guiding the process of restoring the Ratneshvara temple. The entire discussion was not directed against any national or international guidelines, charters or ideologies, but rather in favor of valuing what in the global discourse is termed an indigenous knowledge system.

Beyond knowledge and skill, it is art that is patronized by conservation projects.

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The 2015 earthquake reduced two of the prominent temples on Patan’s Darbar Square to a heap of rubble.

Within a few days following the earthquake, most of the wooden elements, including simple structural wooden elements such as rafters, were salvaged, first stored indiscriminately in the courtyard of the neighboring palace, in May 2015 roughly organized and stored and in June 2016 professionally ordered and presented. It took a year of stock-taking to identify the constituent components of all portals, doorways, windows and cornices. The historic veneer bricks (daciapa) were also properly stored.

All large bricks and molded cornice bricks were damaged to such an extent that replicas, produced by the only active traditional brickmaker (Aval) of Bhaktapur, will replace the original ones. Salvaged veneer bricks (daci apa) will be reused for the ground floor levels of the Char Narayana and Harishankara temples. Matching the size

of the old bricks, new bricks will be produced in November 2016.

Evidence of the details of all the portals, doorways (jambs, lintels, colonnettes, outer frames), columns, colonnettes of the two arcaded halls (mandapa), the arcaded ambulatory of the Harishankara temple and the two-tiered Char Narayana temple have been preserved.

There will be no room for conjecture when replicating the general scheme of decorative details, such as bands of flowers, leaves or even lotus foliage ( ig. 31, 32). One should, however, never forget that Newar carpenters do not know geometrical patterns (as mentioned by the Conservation Manual by John Marshal, 1923) which can be extended ad infinitum. Rather, the individual carpenter enjoyed relative freedom in carving lotus foliage that occasionally turns into creepers and vine. The result is that no coiled lotus foliage equals the neighboring one and no column detail, such as the pot motif, the myrobalan or walnut pattern on one column is identical with the pattern of the neighboring column. There is ample freedom to realize the same program and meet the same proportions. Newar wood carving always followed a grammar which was interpreted by the carpenter in his own way. The scope for variation was, however, narrow, to such an extent that the carving of an entire doorway or, for example, the carving of the twelve columns of the northern Manimandapa conveys a wholeness which is absolutely coherent. No column equals any of the other ones, but all twelve columns make up a family, quite distinct from the contemporary columns and quite different from the twelve columns of the northern Manimandapa. The same is true for the columns and colonnettes of the Harishankara temple and the portals of the Char Narayana temple. The older a temple is, the more likely a deviance in style, for example of the pot motif. The northern portals, for example, differ from the southern portal of the Char Narayana temple in presenting the Kirtimukha motif on the jambs.

33, 34 Patan, Harishankara temple.

Recreation by Indra Kaji Shilpakar of two Mother goddesses of the quarter round panels flanking the ground floor doorways, in analogy to the surviving ones, August 2016.

Photographs B. Basukala, 2016

The tympana and windows of the Harishankara temple 49

are all marginally damaged, enabling the carpenters to carefully repair broken parts and replace the few missing parts. We are aware of the fact that such repairs were not carried out in earlier centuries, because for a generation the intervention remains visible, and in a way impairs the perfection a divine shelter would demand. In earlier centuries, the replacement of damaged elements would even have been mandatory.

In the light of a scarcity of material—hardwood of the sal variety is no longer easily available and is costly—and a growing appreciation of the originality of cultural products, salvaged fragments are to be reused in the course of any rebuilding of a historical structure. We are aware of the fact that this attitude or approach mirrors an international debate that values the original more highly than the replica. We are also aware that this practice entered Nepal only in the 1970s and that it is not always appreciated by the local community.

The tympana of the Char Narayana, dating back to 1565, are much more badly affected by the total collapse of the temple, because the carving of the arched panel is not only more voluminous, but more transparent. This fact will be a major challenge. Some missing parts will be recreated on the basis of the photographic survey made in 2008, but at least in one case a complete replica will have to be made based on the surviving fragments. These fragments would be artfully put together to exhibit the tympanum at the Architecture Galleries of the museum to testify to the 16the century art of carving—when Newar craftsmanship reached its apex. The same is true for the much damaged columns of Harishankara temple and the Manimandapa arcade.

Another issue is the recreation of replicas of lost elements. At the Harishankara temple, four quarter round panels (dyahkva) framing the doorways were lost to theft already in the 1970s. As the panels feature the Eight Mother Goddesses (Ashtamatrika), it is an easy task to recreate these in analogy to the existing ones. The lotus throne, the devotee to the side, the attributes of the 50

goddess everything can be identified beyond doubt.

Therefore it is not conjecture, but following an age-old practice which allows a carpenter to realize and complete a well-known iconographical context (Fig. 33, 34). At no point in history would this have been done differently. The empty niche referred to by John Marshal in 1923 would be an insult and hurt the religious feeling of the Newars. The empty niche establishes an antiquarian view, it documents loss. In the context of a living religious practice, the empty niche would demonstrate an imposition ordered by those who are guided by a rigid ideology that defends objectives that may be justified in a different cultural set-up.

Even more challenging is the recreation of the Eight Mother Goddesses and Eight Bhairavas which were once supporting the roof the northern Manimandapa in the form of struts. The two surviving struts will, however, serve as examples which the recreated ones will refer to.

The iconographical program is again verifiable beyond simple conjecture. Such iconographical schemes exists in the memory and experience of the people. They con thus be identified as an intangible heritage, a knowledge system that justifies replication.

Bibliography (publications cited in the text) Adams, Douglas, and Mark Cawardine: Last Chance to See, London, Heinemann Ltd., 1990.

Dehio, Georg: “Was soll aus dem Heidelberger Schloss werden?”, in: Georg Dehio and Alois Riegl: Konservieren, nicht restaurieren. Streitschriften zur Denkmalpflege um 1900, 1902, 34–42.

Descola, Philippe: “Relativer Universalismus. Anthropologie und kulturelle Diversität—für eine politische Ökologie”, in: Lettre 112, 2016, 107–122.

Dvorák, Max: Katechismus der Denkmalpflege (Catechism for Preservation of Monuments), Wien: J. Bard, 1916.

Enders, Siegfried RCT, and Niels Gutschow: Hozon. Architectural and Urban Conservation in Japan, Stuttgart: Edition Axel Menges, 1998.

Falser, Michael S., Wilfried Lipp and Andrzej Tomaszewski (eds.): Conservation and Preservation. Interactions between Theory and Practice. In memoriam Alois Riegl (1858–1905), Firenze: Edizioni Polistampa, 2010.

Fitch, James Marston: Historical Preservation. Curatorial Management of the Built World, Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1982, 46.

Gurlitt, Cornelius: Bericht des Ersten Tages für Denkmalpflege, 24.–25. September 1900 in Dresden, Berlin 1900.

Gutschow, Niels: “Restaurierung und Rekonstruktion.

Gedanken zur Gültigkeit der Charta von Venedig im Kontext Südasiens”, in: Deutsche Kunst und Denkmalpflege, 9.2, Munich 1991, 156 160.

Gutschow, Niels, and Götz Hagmüller: “The Reconstruction of the Eight-Cornered Pavilion (Cyasilin Mandap) on Darbar Square in Bhaktapur—Nepal“, in:

Larsen/Marstein, 1994b, 133–148.

Gutschow, Niels: “Recapturing lost elements”, in: Theophile/Gutschow, 2002, 61–68.

Gutschow, Niels: “Towards a transcultural discourse in conservation and restoration. Review and outlook”, in: Falser et. al. (eds.), 2010, 11–17.

Gutschow, Niels: Architecture of the Newars. A History of Building Traditions and Details in Nepal, Chicago: Serindia Publications, 3 vols., 2011a.

Gutschow, Niels: “Conservation Practice. A Conflict or Renewal of the Spirit of the Stupa?”, in: Tsering Palmo Gellek and Padma Dorje Maitland (eds.): Light of the Valley. Renewing the Sacred Art and Traditions of Svayambhu, Cazadero: Dharma Publishing, 2011b, 32–41.

Jokilehto, Jukka: “Treatment and Authenticity”, in: Bernard Feilden and Jukka Jokilehto (eds.): Management Guidelines for World Cultural Heritage Sites, Rome: ICCROM-UNESCO-ICOMOS , 1993, 59–75.

Larsen, Knut Einar, and Nils Marstein (eds.): Conference on Authenticity in relation to the World Heritage Convention. Preparatory Workshop in Bergen, Norway, 31 January – 2 February 1994, Bergen: Tapir Forlag, 1994a.

Larsen, Knut Einar, and Nils Marstein (eds.): ICOMOS International Wood Committee (IIWC) 8th International Symposium, Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, Nepal, 23 – 25 November 1992, Bergen: Tapir Forlag, 1994b.

Lowenthal, David: “Criteria of Authenticity”, in: Larsen/Marstein 1994a, 35–64, esp. 42, 60, 62.

Marshall, John: Conservation Manual. A handbook for the use of Archaeological Officers and others entrusted with the care of ancient monuments, Calcutta, 1923.

Lowenthal, David, and Simon Jenkins: “Prizing the past for the present and the future”, in: British Academy Re51

view 18, 2011, 34–40. 2011, 36–38.

Menon, A. G. Krishna: “Conservation in India, a search for direction”, in: Architecture + Design 11–12, 1989, 22–27. 1989, 25 and 26.

Menon, A. G. Krishna: “The Afterlife of the Venice Charter in Postcolonial India”, in: Mathew Hardy (ed.): The Venice Charter Revisited: Modernism, Conservation and Tradition in the 21st Century, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008, 18.

Michell, George: The Hindu Temple, 1989, 308.

Nanda, Ratish: “Humayun’s Tomb: Conservation and Restoration”, in: Weiler and Gutschow, 2016, 93–114.

Riegl, Alois: The Modern Cult of Monuments: its Character and Origin, 1982.

Ruskin, John: Seven Lamps of Architecture, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1849 (see also John Unrau, Looking at Architecture with John Ruskin, Toronto 1979.

Stovel, Herb: “Origins and Influence of the Nara Document of Authenticity”, in: The Association for Preservation Technology (ATP) Bulletin, 39.2, 2008, 12–13.

Theophile, Erich, and Rohit Ranjitkar: “Timber Conservation Problems of the Nepalese Pagoda Temple”, in: Larsen/Marstein, 1994b, 85–124.

Theophile, Erich, and Niels Gutschow: The Sulima Pagoda. East meets West in the Restoration of a Nepalese Temple, Trumbull: Weatherhill, 2002.

Viollet-le-Duc, Eugène-Emmanuel: The Foundations of Architecture, New York: Braziller 1990, 195 (French original published in 1854).

Slusser, Mary Shepherd: “On the Loss of Cultural Heritage in Quake-Ravaged Nepal”, July 04, 2016, in: Asian art.com.

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Weiler, Katharina, and Niels Gutschow (eds.): Authenticity in Architectural Heritage Conservation. Discourses, Opinions, Experiences in Europe, South and East Asia, Springer International Publishing, 2016.

Wijesuriya, Gamini: “Conservation in context”, in: Falser et al. (eds.), 2010, 233–248.

Wolff, Arnold, the master builder of the Cologne Cathedral, is quoted from: Dokumentation zur Diskussion um die Ziegelplombe am Nordturm des Kölner Domes (Pfeiler F 1 West) in den Jahren 1995 und 1996, Cologne, April 1996 (limited circulation).

Typical Seismic Issues in Newar Architecture Seismic Issues Manual - In Development Rohit Ranjitkar and Evan Speer

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Seismic Issues Manual - in Development

By Rohit Ranjitkar and Evan Speer Introduction Over decades of experience in the preservation of Newar Architecture, the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (KVPT) has identified several traditional building practices, construction methods and other architectural details that make these structures seismically vulnerable.

This has never been more evident than in the wake of the devastating April 25, 2015 Gorkha earthquake. Since that time, Rohit Ranjitkar, Nepal director of KVPT, has worked to compile integral details and studies of seismic issues in historic Newari structures. This work has been developed to raise awareness of the vulnerabilities of these structures and to advocate for careful detailing and proper seismic strengthening in the rebuilding and renovation of these structures, including examples from lessons learned through KVPT’s project development through the years. Evan Speer, who has been consulting with KVPT since the 2015 earthquake provided further insight and development of these details and fact sheets, adding to the discussion with structural engineering concepts.

The following pages include sample fact sheets for various issues that have been identified and developed through decades of work. Issues below include Threshold Base Stone Connections; Timber Column Base Connections; Brick Masonry Wall Composition; Wood Rot and Rising Damp; Roof Strut Connections; and Wall Plate Detailing.

These fact sheets are a subset of a larger document still under development. Additional typical seismic issues include the following: Beam Holding Top Roof, Yellow Clay Mud Mortar, Floor-to-Wall Connections, Excessive Roof Weight, Lack of Floor Diaphragms, Foundation Wall Isolation, Wood Quality and Consistency.

3

6

5

4 1

Harishankara Temple (above) Principal Elevation used as model to show location of typical seismic issues Source: Eduard Sekler, 1982 All figures and photographs in this chapter were created by Rohit Ranjitkar unless otherwise noted.

2

Opposite page: South and North Manimandapas after their collapse on 25 April 2015 into the adjacent step well Photo by R. Ranjitkar, 28 April 2015

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1. Threshold Base Stone Connections

Top Harishankara Temple partial elevation (l) and Section (r), showing location of base stones.

Description In the typical tiered temple constructions, the threshold level, or topmost level of the raised plinth, includes an outer ring of carved base stone elements. These base stones are often simply set into place before placing the superstructure, either brick masonry walls or large timber columns. The base stones often have mortises to accept wooden tenons from above, or have small tenons to act as dowels into the structure above. This connection is where the load from the outer perimeter columns supporting the roof comes down into the foundation.

Source: E. Sekler 1982 (l), Bijay Basukala 2015 (r)

Middle Harishankara Temple northeast corner base stone after 2015 earthquake. An overturned corner stone has been observed on multiple collapsed tiered temples with outer timber column arcades. The corner base stone was not properly tied to the main structure and dislodged during the earthquake. Note the mortise visible on the corner stone.

The column tenon was in this mortise, and when stone rolled out, it kicked the corner column base outward, contributing to collapse of the structure.

Issues These base stones are largely just set into place and have no significant structural connection to the adjacent stones or to the structure above or below. These connections seem to have been conceived for compression forces but not for lateral seismic forces. This lack of direct connection allows these base stones to shift and move independently during an earthquake and often results in corner stones shifting such that corner columns kick out, accelerating progressive collapse of the building.

Bottom Diagram showing minimal intervention in a typical tiered temple plinth. This involves a continuous reinforced concrete ring beam (F) placed behind the outer plinth/base stones (D). The ring beam is doweled (stainless steel rods) into the backside of the stones to provide continuity and prevent separation of the stone base.

A. Timber column, B. Stone base (ilohan), C. Stone flooring, D. Plinth stone, E. Foundation, F. Reinforced concrete ring beam, G. Inner wall, H. Mud rick infill mud mortar between walls

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A

G

B

C

F D

H E

Options for Seismic Strengthening To prevent independent movement or dislodgement of the base stones, direct structural connections should be introduced to provide continuity which will help the structure move as one unit instead of small, independent pieces. This continuity can be introduced through connecting each of the stones to adjacent stones via stainless steel pins, or doweling each of the stones (with a stainless steel rod) into a homogeneous interior structure such as a reinforced concrete ring beam.

2. Timber Column Base Connections Description The sal (local hardwood) column is a prominent building element in Newar architecture. Sal columns are often used on the ground floor of temples and pÄ t structures to form open arcades, and often support brick masonry walls above. The columns bear either on base stones at the threshold level, or wooden perimeter beams (lakansi) that bear onto lower base stones. The connections between the columns and their base are usually made with a shallow (approx. 1 inch) square tenon protruding from the bottom of the column. This tenon is placed into a mortise within the base material.

Issues These columns tend to support very high loads, including brick masonry walls. At the ground floor, the base connections are critical for the stability of the building.

With the original undersized tenon joints, there is no positive connection that resists overturning forces at this connection. With the high loads of the upper structure displacing during an earthquake, these tenons often pull directly out of their fitting. Without the lateral shear resistance provided by the tenon, the column bases displace and can no longer support the weight of the structure above. This results in failure of the column and can lead to collapse of the structure above.

Options for Seismic Strengthening To prevent the pullout and failure of these base connections, a structural connection should be introduced to connect the columns with the base material. This can be achieved with stainless steel dowels that extend into each material a depth of about 1/6th the unbraced length of the column. Added stiffness and tensile strength can be achieved by inserting a recessed stainless steel base plate at the interface between materials and using structural epoxies to secure the embedded dowels.

Top South Manimandapa Columns rotated out of their connections to the lakansi beam during the April 25, 2015 earthquake. The tenons were undersized and had no direct connection to counteract the overturning induced by heavy masonry structure above.

Middle Left Timber columns salvaged from collapsed temples. The base tenons were relatively intact on these columns, signifying that the columns had rotated out of their bases and not sheared off at the tenon.

Middle Right Strengthening via two 25mm dia. stainless steel rods inserted into both the column and the base stone.

Bottom Left and Right Various strengthening options using four stainless steel dowels provide added strength while leaving existing tenon intact.

(Bottom Left diagram by Evan Speer)

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Top

3. Brick Masonry Wall Composition

Wall section showing the composition of a typical Newar brick masonry wall. (Gutschow, 1987) Note the variance in brick types, infill between outer wythes of brick and the lack of structural connection between the different layers.

Description Masonry walls made from mud mortar were built in three different layers that are not properly bonded together (like a cavity wall). The exterior layer is always dāci apā and the interior layer is mā-apā (or occasionally dāci apā) with rubble infill between the two.

Middle Bulging and separation of layers of typical brick masonry wall. The mud mortar erodes and the outer dāci apā layer has separated from inner wythes of brick.

Bottom Left Improved detail for brick masonry wall, interlocking bricks of varying sizes to provide more structural continuity between the inner and outer faces of the wall.

Bottom Center and Right Stainless steel rods with hooked ends that secure the outer wythe to the inner wythe of brick laid in the mortar bed to improve structural continuity. Stainless steel can also be laid in a bowtie pattern to help strengthen connection of outer wythes of walls.

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Issues There is no proper structural connection between layers.

This causes bulging of the tapered dāci apā bricks when mud mortar dries and erodes. This deterioration is especially weak during an earthquake, where the exterior layer bulges further due to lack of connection within the wall, and was blown out on many such walls leading to collapse.

Options for Seismic Strengthening If header bricks are not available to connect layers within the wall, it is recomended to (i) cut dāci apā to provide a proper overlap with daci apā layer, (ii) use a 6 mm stainless steel rod in with hooked ends to hook into and connect inner and outer brick layers (iii) make bowtie reinforcing with 2 mm dia. stainless steel wire to connect all layers. Any of these solutions can be applied at every 30"-36" in every 4-5 brick layers.

4. Wood Rot and Rising Damp Description Many typical Newar structures were either originally constructed using, or underwent alterations that resulted in, details that do not properly address issues of protecting superstructures from rot or rising damp.

Issues In most traditional Newar structures, the lack of dampproof course, or vapor barrier, allows moisture to easily penetrate the lower portions of the building. This is one of the most problematic issue with these traditional structures. Due to this issue, the lower sections are deteriorated and weakened by rot and water damage. Deterioration of materials from moisture damage can significantly affect their ability to absorb lateral or seismic forces, with weakened brick crushing or crumbling and with weakened wood experiencing shear failure at a very premature stress level.

In some cases, such as in various pÄ t structures, there was originally a void beneath wooden floors to allow ventilation and to reduce risk of rising damp in interior walls and columns. In some cases, these details were altered at some point and the voids were filled in, accelerating the deterioration of materials.

Options for Seismic Strengthening To improve protection against water damage in collapsed structures, a damp proof course can be installed within the foundations to restrict rising damp from penetrating up into the structure. This method is variable in its implementation, and largely based on project- and site-specific conditions. The foundation conditions largely dictate where the damp proof course can be placed. Additional measures should also be taken within the superstructure, such as copper sheeting to provide a barrier where timber building elements are located adjacent to masonry walls. This aids in preventing water infiltration between building elements.

Top A typical timber column experiencing wood rot at its base from a damp plinth.

Middle Efflorescence, or salt formation, on the face of bricks that is caused by cyclical rising damp that permeates the porous bricks and evaporates, leaving any traces of salts and other minerals on the face of the brick.

This movement of water through the masonry accelerates deterioration. The water running up through the brick breaks down the brick and erodes the clay mortar.

Bottom Rotten wood at the plinth level, around the base of timber columns.

This wood detail was likely implemented during an intervention.

Improper detailing allowed standing water to collect and permeate the wood, resulting in extensive wood rot.

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Top Typical strut roof connection detail, with no direct structural connection between strut and the roof structure it supports. The strut is notched around the purlin, but is only held in place laterally by timber pegs (cukul). These timber pegs often lack proper maintenance and are either rotten, loose, or broken, thus providing no lateral resistance. Lack of proper restraint of the elements in this connection can lead to separation of strut from roof, and ultimately roof collapse.

Middle Uma Maheshvara Temple, Patan.

Strut roof connection detail after KVPT preservation in 1992, with concealed stainless steel bolts to create a direct structural connection between the roof elements.

This provides added structural continuity to resist separation of these elements during an earthquake.

Bottom KVPT detail adding steel reinforcing to top of corner strut to secure it to roof members. This connection not only secures strut in place, but adds tensile strength to the timber purlin corner connection.

The combination of added tensile strength at the corner and load distribution through several fasteners allows better utilization of wood’s strength without localizing all lateral forces through the half-lap joint, where purlins have reduced section.

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5. Roof Strut Connections Description In typical Newar architecture, roofs have large overhangs, preventing rain from splashing on the sensitive brick masonry walls in mud mortar. The overhangs are supported by large timber struts, typically made of the strong sal hardwood. These struts are often very intricately and deeply carved on tiered temples and many other structures with religious functions.

Issues The struts supporting roofs are often simply wedged into place, with no real connection at either end to resist sliding from lateral seismic forces. They are primarily held in place by the roof weight above and the frictional forces between the struts and the main structure, and rest mainly on small wooden or brick corbels built into the lower level of the brick masonry walls of the building. The struts are connected to purlins along the outer edge of the roofs via a notched end to set the strut under the plate. This weak connection often results in struts shaking loose during earthquakes, which can result in progressive collapse of the roof. As the struts, especially corner struts, provide support for the heavy roof, the quality and consistency of the load path they provide must also be ample for the high roof loads. The detailed carvings in the struts often go through the entire depth of the strut, weakening this load path.

Options for Seismic Strengthening To improve the load path and stability of struts, it is important to provide direct structural connections to the roof structure. On typical struts, this can be achieved with concealed stainless steel rods connecting strut, purlin, rafters and planking. On corner struts, a bolted steel plate connection can also increase stiffness and tensile strength at the corner of the building.

6. Wall Plate Detailing

Top

Description Brick masonry walls are typically topped with wall plates on both the inner and outer faces of the brick masonry walls. The wall plates form a ring around the wall with half-lap joints connecting the intersecting wooden members. Theys are also used to connect other wooden elements within the structure.

F

Middle

Issues The wall plates in their original layout are very susceptible to dislodgement during an earthquake, as they are independent of one another and not properly tied back to the brick masonry wall itself. This means that during an earthquake, the two wall plates, resting on different areas of the brick masonry wall, may shake independently and contribute to the pulling apart of various timber connections within the structure. Thewall plates could be a vital element within the structure to tie the brick wall and timber structure together, but were traditionally not detailed to do this.

Options for Seismic Strengthening To improve the seismic behavior, connection should be established through the brick wall to prevent dislodgement of the wall plates. If inner and outer wall plates are properly joined through the wall, they will act together as a stiffer frame element at the top of brick walls and will help the building to shake together as one unit at this location. This improved continuity can be established by extending the inner wall plates to the outer wall plate to create added stiffness in the corners, adding intermediary wooden ties through the walls to connect the wall plates along the wall, and bolting steel plate connections in the corners to increase the tensile strength of the joints and allow ring action. These interventions will both strengthen the timber frame and reduce bulging and blowouts within the masonry walls.

Typical wall plate construction in Newari brick masonry walls. The inner and outer wall plates are very often not connected through the brick masonry.

D F E

Updated detail which extends inner wall plates to join to the outer wall plate, creating a stiffened ring beam. The outer wall plate is also reinforced with bolted steel angles at the corners to further strengthen the frame.

A. Outer wall plate B. Inner wall plate C. Wall D. Dovetail connection or half lap joint between wall plates E. Metal corner plate to tie wall plates together F. Corner half lap joint

Bottom D B A

Uma Maheswor Temple, Kwalkhu.

Implementation of strengthening (1992).

(Letters indicate same elements as in image above.)

C

B F

A C

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Seismic Strengthening of Historic Newar Buildings By Rohit Ranjitkar, Erich Theophile and Liz Newman, with contributions by Evan Speer

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Seismic Strengthening of Historic Newar Buildings

By Rohit Ranjitkar, Erich Theophile and Liz Newman, with contributions by Evan Speer

Part I Introduction Architectural preservation work in post-earthquake Nepal brings to the forefront the two themes of this publication, both of which are inherent in KVPT’s ongoing development of techniques and working philosophy since 1991. The first -- how one repairs, replaces, recarves, or redesigns lost elements of this rich architectural/iconographic vocabulary-- engages questions of authenticity, and has been dealt with in earlier chapters.

The second - how one determines the level or type of seismic reinforcements, i.e. strengthening measures to help protect the building in a future earthquake, is the subject of this chapter.

KVPT 's founding mission - to safeguard the architecture of the Kathmandu Valley, - has involved numerous and continuous experimental and evolving techniques in developing appropriate strategies for conservation -and seismic strengthening has always been a focus. The present goal is both to review this seismic work as an evolution of practice, looking at KVPT’s work before and after the earthquake, and to place it in the context of international practice and charters as well as local norms and developments, in addition to understanding the urgency of the post-earthquake context.

Seen in a broader context, the design of modifications to a monument or historical building, which may be ahis-

torical but contribute to the building’s longer life, form a considerable part of international preservation practice.

These interventions might involve the introduction of modern building systems - like heating and electricity to make a structure habitable as part of adaptive reuse, or, in the case of seismically active zones, they might be modifications to the historical structural system or the introduction of new layers to help the structure meet building codes addressing human safety factors.

Hybrid solutions The Trust, working in the local context but influenced by its Western co-founders and the international educational background of its Nepalese working professionals, explicitly prioritizes retaining and saving the historical layers and pieces of a structure and/or maintaining its historical configuration. This is decidedly a departure from many local or community approaches, in which one would generally not think twice about recarving a lost icon or dismantling a deteriorated historic structure to replace it with a new building in reinforced concrete frame construction. Discussions in 1992 between KVPT and the owners of a local dilapidated shrine in Patan, for example, could not persuade them even to consider repairing their rare early structure, Tyagah Chapa, with its 13th century carved struts; they wanted a new structure.

As this building stood outside of any Monument Zone with protective covenants, its demolition could not be stopped. Thus when KVPT engages in the design for seismic reinforcements which prioritize historical fabric, it must be stated that this is already a “hybridized” approach. Nepalese building materials, historical fabric, local craftsmen and worshippers-- these all mix with very recently “imported” ideas of architectural heritage conservation. It should be noted that at this point, issues of architectural conservation practice have begun filtering broadly into the upper and educated classes of Nepal, creating new discourses and collisions.

One example illustrates the situation well. In order to consolidate the building and improve seismic strength-

Above, Top Tyagha Chapa before demolition.

Photograph by Mary Slusser, ca. 1970

Above, Bottom After rebuiding in concrete frame structure in 1996.

Photograph by Raju Roka, July 23, 2005

Opposite Patan Darbar Square before and after earthquake.

Photographs by Rohit Ranjitkar and Hari Maharjan, January 31, 2011 and April 26, 2015

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ening, Programme Director Ranjitkar negotiated for many months to convince the community that the heavily-damaged Patukva Agam, a 17th c. towered shrine building, could be restored without dismantling or rebuilding its intact but weathered facade. Here, the Trust developed a novel, internal timber backup frame which preserved the towering, historical facade. Anyone else would have dismantled and rebuilt.

Interventions which affect the historical configuration or surviving building materials of a structure are of course to be carefully considered. This article is an opportunity to explicate some of the considerations, working methods and solutions of completed and proposed projects in detail. It is especially important to point out that the diversity of solutions reflects not only the individual characteristics of the historic structures - which we study carefully - but also KVPT's commitment to developing new and appropriate solutions. KVPT's mission has never been focused on expanding to save every monument in the Valley, but rather has been to take advantage of its local expertise, the variety of international collaborators, and a global network of experts and researchers to explore creative and appropriate solutions which might “bridge” the differences between local and international norms in preservation. In addition, the history of the Trust can be seen as one of taking on projects of increasing scale and complexity as our organization, reputation, expertise, and fundraising base has grown.

There are few places where so many different actors have worked in close proximity: Patan Darbar and environs is a virtual laboratory for international conservation work, with a wide variety of foreign experts, UN agencies, foreign governments, NGOs, INGOs, private citizens, local groups, local academics and government agencies at work. The theme of such “hybrid” solutions is central to an early publication of KVPT: “Sulima Pagoda: East Meets West in the Restoration of a Nepalese Temple.”

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A note on the term ‘seismic strengthening’ We use term the ‘seismic strengthening’ instead of ‘seismic reinforcement’ or seismic retrofitting’ because the problem it denotes is so sensitive,- in these building types and this odd political context,- that rather than inserting a single rigid framework into a structure, one typically has to look to a myriad of smaller design measures that help strengthen buildings without destroying their historic integrity. This is generally a good challenge, one which we have prioritized since the inception of the Trust, but there are limits to its effectiveness in certain cases, and there, where they are imperative, the introduction of modern materials can mean the survival of the structure. The discussion below of the Manimandapa design process delves into this question of balancing the spectrum of seismic interventions and the resulting structural strength with preservation concerns.

Relevant characteristics of Newar architecture As one surveys the range of historical building types and configurations in the Kathmandu Valley in light of seismic performance, some basic observations can be made on 1) how we now feel seismic design factored into their original construction; 2) the evolution of building materials; and 3) the history of maintenance - or the lack thereof. uilding configurations seismicall considered Typical to historic Newar buildings is a design of great artistic significance, often together with very poor building fabric. Typical problems are: lack of vertical connections; lack of information about foundations; building materials quality and supply issues – brick, mud mortar, timbers. Layered on to these over time are decreased seismic resistance due to multiple post-earthquake reconstructions; shoddiness and incorrect historical details/ configurations of past repairs; and low-quality structural replacement timber. The rebuilding process has sometimes spurred on artistic developments, but without prioritizing structural connections or internal structure; with design that responds to cultural and climatic con-

siderations but not to earthquake activity. The iconic multi-tiered temple type, with its very wide overhanging roofs and timber structure but little or no positive connections inside to outside, or of the main edifice to the base, is a classic example.

Materials - historical, evolving, confusing The materials used in historic Newar construction have changed over time in a way that is poorly understood today. The seismic story of the Kathmandu Valley, with its long history of buildings falling and being rebuilt multiple times, is an important factor in the virtual disappearance of many of the original materials used in their construction -but there are other factors at play as well. To explore this evolution, we need to distinguish three categories of materials, which we designate here as historic (meaning original, i.e. what was used during the Malla era when the buildings were first built); later (referring to materials that have been used for a while, perhaps even since the early 20th century, but were not original to Newar buildings of the Malla era); and modern (which has not been used consistently, as discussed below).

Many, perhaps most, of the historic or original materials have to our knowledge disappeared from all structures remaining today. We are fortunate that Niels Gutschow definitively documented these materials, along with the related topics of historic construction assemblies, tools, and even rituals, in his 1988 book “ Newars Towns and Buildings.” In some cases this building dictionary may be the only record of a traditional construction method, such as a recipe for silay, a resin pointing used for stone and brick facades, now lost. Where we do find surviving original materials, such as the façade bricks, daci apa, or other specialty cornice tiles or unique historical sizes of common brick, the Trust tries to reuse wherever possible and custom-order new, matching pieces as necessary. It is important to note that the practice of using original materials for repairs or rebuilding was not the case in the Kathmandu Valley for most of the 20th century. New

brick – whether the oversized bricks stamped with Prime Minister Juddha Shamsher’s seal that were popular in the post-1934 quake rebuildings or “machine made” brick –the mass-produced variety available in the 60’s, these were preferred for all building work, both historical and new, until the recent past. It was in the 1970’s with the arrival of international conservation teams at the Pujari Math and Hanuman Dhoka projects, that the idea of using original or historical materials arrived, as did commissions to revive long-closed small-scale production facilities. Interestingly, these replicas of the original daci apa and jhinghati tiles are experiencing a renaissance in current revival architecture, too, although the quality of the early materials has never been matched.

The later materials are many, including all Rana-era improvements, and are sometimes imported from or influenced by Nepal’s neighbors, India and China. To take roof assemblies as an example, one highly visible later material is the large terra-cotta machine made roof tile that often replaces the traditional handmade terra-cotta jhinghati. These larger tiles were used extensively by the Rana rulers in the 20th c, for example, to refurbish the Patan Palace roofscape. They are installed over timber sleepers (eliminating the jhingati’s heavy mud bed) and require less maintenance.

While some argue that these materials are themselves now traditional and should be retained where found, the Trust does not retain these replacement tiles where they are encountered on our project buildings because Maintenance, and strengthening vs. demolition Given the long history of neglect of Kathmandu Valley heritage, which has been chronicled in every traveler’s account since at least the early 19th century, one should assume little to no future maintenance of projects, and the historic moment of new construction of the type is long past, meaning each successive earthquake now takes its toll in vast numbers of weakened traditional buildings that will collapse or be demolished and will never 67

our priority is to return to the original materials and configuration of the historic structure, and provide improved performance as needed (where historic materials are not sufficient) through concealed, or unobtrusive, modern interventions.

In roofing assemblies, this translates to achieving improved waterproofing and seismic bracing via the addition, concealed above the planking on the rafters, of marine grade plywood and a waterproofing membrane under the traditional mud setting bed and jhinghati roof tiles. The Mul Cok and Sundari Cok projects in Patan Palace are recent examples of this approach to roof assembly.

The word “traditional” today is a confused term which is often unwittingly used in a way that conflates original and later materials. For example, in addition to the larger tiles and bricks mentioned above, later materials include wood planking over rafters. Most people in Nepal today consider this a traditional material and would be surprised to learn that the use of planking in this way dates back only to the Hanuman Dhoka and Bhaktapur Development Projects (1970’s-80’s). Where roofing materials of 85 years or more survive, one probably finds a mixture of reeds and lathe used to cover the rafters under the mud bed; and while this may have been conventional practice for centuries, there have also been found early surviving fragments of specialty tiles used to span the rafters, - possibly the earliest building practice, according to Gutschow.

Manimandapa south The rotten base beam for the pillars and timber pillars in storage.

Photographs by Rohit Ranjitkar, July and August, 2015.

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Certain clearly modern materials are such common and obvious improvements to the performance of traditional buildings that they have become de facto strategy for historic buildings. One of the most common examples is the waterproofing membrane under the mud bed of the roof. This ahistorical material is generally accepted as a modern intervention which the old buildings require to survive the monsoon cycle. There is no controversy over whether this modern innovation is the best way

to waterproof roofs. One could consider that any such modification shifts the balance, subtly or less so, of historical and traditional assemblies, and with it, some not fully determinate factors in the structures’ durability and earthquake resistance - for better or for worse. But this membrane is concealed, it works, and it is rarely discussed.

This is also important because of the existence of a vocal faction which argues today against the use of modern materials. Like everyone else, this group accepts such modern materials as the waterproof membrane, and it has even proposed the use of laminated timber - (wood, yes, but a very industrial, ahistorical material-arguably more modern than concrete). The ideology here of rejecting modern materials is restricted to concrete, as discussed elsewhere in this chapter. There has been some discussion about the use of timbers in ahistorical configurations - even a proposal for a timber ring beam in a foundation. Mention has even been made of substituting an enormous monolithic stone for our proposed concealed foundation slab on a project in order to avoid any use of concrete.

It is our conclusion that these ideas are not practical in terms of implementation and durability, and they do not withstand scientific scrutiny or conform to international norms of preservation. It is worth reemphasizing that with the rare exception of an historical change that was of a high quality of design and material, rather than a downgrading of materials - our priority is rather a return to the original historic configuration (form and dimensions) and materials wherever possible, with a carefully considered intervention using concealed or unobtrusive modern materials only when traditional materials cannot meet the need. This is Article 10 of the Venice Charter, painstakingly applied.

Maintenance Given the long history of neglect of Kathmandu Valley heritage, which has been chronicled in every traveler’s account since at least the early 19th century, one should assume little to no future maintenance of projects, and the historic moment of new construction of the type is long past, meaning each successive earthquake now takes its toll in vast numbers of weakened traditional buildings that will collapse or be demolished and will never be rebuilt. Likewise, the public attitude today toward old buildings in developing Kathmandu today is a belief that modern construction is better - and will better survive the next earthquake. Although the knowledge and techniques exist to do so, there is almost no understanding of - or interest in - the possibility of bringing older structures to a safe condition, rather than replacing them with concrete. This is part of the particular tragedy of the Kathmandu Valley’s modernization, and another reason to design for longevity.

The unique characteristics of Newar architecture-beauty and symbolism - were privileged over seismic concerns; but there are also factors of flexibility built in - and aspects of traditional buildings, when well cared-for - that dissipate a certain amount of earthquake energy. Techniques to address the inherent weaknesses of the type have been the focus of study over time by KVPT and are detailed in the “seismic issues” and “earthquake manual” sections of this report. At the same time, and first, seismic strategies must work with and enhance the particular strengths of the traditional type wherever possible.

Part II Evolution of KVPT’s practice and philosophy 1991-2015 As the following project histories are intended to illustrate, our work in “saving” a building in the Kathmandu Valley is an extremely creative and individual design process. It involves the classic elements of preservation work such as forensic work on the building to understand its construction history and historical layers, historical research, community negotiations, and accepting the limitations of local implementation; and the complex and delicate work of international collaboration in balancing local and international norms. This background has led to our unique position, and we document in Part II the evolution of diverse solutions that have grown from variations in: 1) extent of physical intervention; 2) materials and construction methods; and 3) engineering concepts.

Our solutions to seismic strengthening are to a large extent a function of KVPT Program Director Rohit Ranjitkar’s keen understanding of and involvement with the actual construction process and methods. The development of our reinforcement solutions takes place largely on site due to both the irregularity of the medieval architecture and the three-dimensional complexity of the construction materials assembly.

Recipe for restoration - context and early projects KVPT’s early projects took place against the backdrop of two massive, pioneering, and highly professional projects, Hanuman Dhoka (Kathmandu) and the Bhaktapur Development Project. Both had focused on introducing a number of best practices in preservation such as maximizing historical fabric retention and installing damp proof courses. In terms of seismic strengthening, there was a general consensus in the early 1990’s that a concealed ring beam under the wall plate level beneath the rafters should be considered for historic buildings 69

A "Recipe for Restoration," published in the 1992 ICOMOS proceedings, describes how such seismic strengthening strategies were integrated into a program of repair and rebuilding which prioritized interventions using traditional mud mortar, brick, and timber, as well as the retention of historic building fabric.

at risk, with rebuilding/new construction projects to receive ring beams at the foundation level as well. (See Dr. Walther Mann’s and John Sanday’s recommendations for concrete ring beams from manuals prepared as part of the Bhaktapur Development Programme and Hanuman Dhoka Restoration projects, respectively.)

Such seismic design sensibility describes the early temple repairs of KVPT. A “Recipe for Restoration,” published in the 1992 ICOMOS proceedings, described how such seismic strengthening strategies were integrated into a repair and rebuilding program which prioritized the use of traditional mud mortar, brick, and timber and retaining historic building fabric. Adding waterproof mem70

branes to historic roofing assemblies was unquestioned standard practice. As soon as water penetrated the roof, these structures deteriorated quickly with the monsoon rains- five years could take a building. It also went without saying that substituting of wood planking and bitumen tar felt for the historical lathe or tile underlayment to the roof mud followed from the Venice Charter’s justification of the use of modern materials. The Charter’s Article 10 reads: “Where traditional techniques prove inadequate, the consolidation of a monument can be achieved by the use of any modern technique for conservation and construction, the efficacy of which has been shown by scientific data and proved by experience.”

This early work of KVPT, including Uma Maheswor

Left (Top and Bottom) Structural improvements to masonry walls created by tying the inner and outer wall plates together to introduce continuity and to hold walls together, at Radha Krishna temple project (upper and lower left).

Right Upper right sketch shows stainless steel corner reinforcement between adjacent plates at Uma Mahesvara (upper right).

Sketches by Rohit Ranjitkar, 1992

the masons and carpenters to identify places to add unobtrusive or concealed strengthening.

and Radha Krishna, was reviewed by the visiting Wood Conservation Mission of ICOMOS, who described it as exemplary of how high quality restoration and repair projects could be achieved in the the Kathmandu Valley.

The development of additional and innovative ways to strengthen timber joints and make vertical connections was an important advance in the general measures to improve connections in repairs and rebuilding. Ranjitkar’s achievement, notably, followed from his having spent many hours on the building scaffolding working with

Among these measures were the extension of inner wall plates, the inclusion of additional timber joints to connect the inner and outer wall plates, and steel reinforcing angles to add stiffness and continuity to the structure at the top of brick masonry walls (eg, at Uma Maheshvara temple). The addition of timber corner posts extending down from these stiffened wall plates also added vertical continuity to the timber framing, helping reinforce the brick masonry and increasing the adaptability of the structure by adding some redundancy to the load path.

Innovative thinking, largely spurred by the difficulties of procuring lead and stainless steel in the Nepali market, also led to the use of copper sheeting as a damp proof course during preservation work at Ayuguthi Sattal.

Since chemical treatment and reinforced concrete damp proof courses were unprecedented in Nepal at the time, the use of copper sheeting to separate timber elements from masonry elements to inhibit water flow was implemented.

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Patukva Agam Structural improvements include a timber backup frame within the structure and a two-layered system of perpendicular diagonal planking to increase stiffness and shear capacity.

Photographs and sketch by Rohit Ranjitkar, 1996.

Timber reinforcement schemes in the 90’s: Patukva Agam backup frame, Yetkha, Vambaha The restoration of the Patukva Agam (restored 1994-8) presented a significant structural challenge as its massive rooftop and multi-tiered temple structure rested on a dilapidated three-story base structure which was about to collapse due to water damage. The Trust consulted with the UK’s pre-eminent conservationist, Sir Bernard Feilden, during his working visit with KVPT in 1994 regarding the Agam as well as strengthening techniques for the Ayuguthi. Eduard Sekler negotiated a consultancy from Guy Nordenson to pursue the engineering concept of a backup frame using massive timber members, an idea which had been initiated in consultation with Sir Bernard Feilden. Nordenson, a senior engineer at the international engineering firm of Ove Arup, advised on this innovative design. The solution can be described as a framework of interior scaffolding, - massive timber members carefully fit into the corners of the structure and spanning floor joists designed to catch the towering masonry and timber tower in case of failure. A structural membrane created by multiple layers of timber planking with staggered joints in 45 degree was introduced at the floor level to provide horizontal rigidity, replacing the historical thick mud floors. This backup structural frame allowed us to leave the slightly tilting facade masonry intact, without dismantling, so that the extraordinary patina and irregularity of the facade could be “frozen”.

Timber was chosen over steel both for its aesthetic flavor, congruent with the medieval tiny crooked structure, and because it would be easier to fit and install in the tiny spaces, which allowed no extra room for machinery. Steel and a timber backup frame were employed for Patukva Agam, a dilapidated shrine building, in 199497. In 1995 KVPT worked with Walther Mann and the GTZ funded Patan Conservation and Development Programme to develop the Vambaha timber ring beam inserted at the roof plate and wall plate levels.

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Left Vambaha seismic reinforcement design with a multi-layered timber beam supporting the walls of the pinnacle.

Designed by Prayag Joshi, February 1994

Refurbishing palace and monastery: Itumbaha and Patan Darbar Complex projects 2006-2015 A number of palace and monastery projects followed whose building configuration, low center of gravity and two-story height invited minimal interventions for seismic strengthening. These types, with their massive and continuous masonry wall structure, stand in contrast to the more high risk temple structures sitting atop plinths, with their huge roof overhangs. Ayuguthi Sattal reconstruction, Itum Baha, and the quadrangles of the Patan Royal Palace are examples.

The upgrading of foundations to include damp proof courses was considered critical not only for occupancy of the ground floor, but to protect against wet rot on the structural timber pillars in the ground floor. The timber pillars of Newar buildings vary in their level of development as an auxiliary timber framework or timber lacing. When it came to assessing different options for a damp proof course, for example, the efficacy and difficulty of installation and the amount of fabric destruction were among the factors considered. The low-tech solution of copper sheets was explored in conversations with Feilden.

Above Mahadev Temple North Vertical up right post completely rotten due to rising damp, even sitting on the stone base.

Photograph by Rohit Ranjitkar, Sept. 2016

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The Kathmandu Darbar Initiative (1998-2005): Strengthening schemes for Nepal’s iconic multi-tiered temples (degah) After a string of individual building projects of growing scale in Patan, the Trust proposed a major campaign in 1997, an “ensemble group" for the Kathmandu Darbar Initiative project in collaboration with the World Monuments Fund and Nepalese businessmen. In this project, the Kathmandu Darbar Initiative, seismic strengthening was identified as a major research and development goal.

Other project initiatives included the first study of the use of paint on historic temples. or this high-profile endeavor, whose launch was inaugurated by the Crown Prince, the Trust was fortunate to have as our technical advisor Robert Silman, a major figure in the preservation engineering of historic buildings around the world. During an expert mission in 1999 with Silman, Gutschow, Ranjitkar, Theophile, and Nepalese engineer Prayag Joshi, the group reviewed KVPT’s and others’ seismic strengthening examples as a basis for the development of model techniques at this cluster of temples in Kathmandu Darbar Square.

It is important to point out that up until that time (and in fact even today), possibly as a holdover from conservative policies to prevent archaeological raids (and in defiance of international consensus), the Dept. of Archaeology had never allowed to excavation and study of foundations for heritage projects. Soil testing and analysis were also out of the question. In retrospect, and particularly after the earthquake of 2015, it seems untenable for a restoration project to be constrained by this convention (which historically derived from an Indian policy of the British Archaeological Survey of India intended only to address archaeological sites - ‘dead’ monuments). Because of this, project teams were (and are) forced to make unverifiable assumptions about the foundation and soil- the most critical features both for the assessment of seismic performance and for the potential reinforcement of foundations. Both were out of bounds.

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Silman’s office accepted the Department of Archaeology’s moratorium on soil testing and undertook the first-ever modeling of a Nepalese multi-tiered temple, to explore what strengths or weaknesses were inherent to the architectural style, the construction methods, and individual building configurations. Three major temples in need of restoration, in varying states of disrepair, were the focus. As with any structural retrofit design, we had to identify design criteria or goals. As the clients and local experts, KVPT insisted that the goal of the reinforcement was to prevent loss of life, not necessarily to prevent all damage, because a more “ambitious” restoration to a guaranteed level (i.e. compliant with international code) would mean losing the very historic buildings that required such great interventions. Furthermore, we asked that reinforcements be fully concealed from the exterior and that solutions should be possible to implement with locally-available technology and manpower.

With these priorities and based on these characteristics, project strategies, concepts, and methods could be developed.

Against all odds: Breaking the law to save Indrapur Silman’s proposal actually accomplished these goals in different ways, offering low-key interventions for one of the buildings, Jagannath, based on its apparently sound masonry structure, rebuilt in the 1930’s with high quality and well-bonded brick. The recommended reinforcement measures for the refurbishment of the damaged timber roof structure at Jagganath followed KVPT’s typical working solutions. For the Indrapur and Narayan temples, considered at-risk by the engineers, more highly developed and ambitious retrofit schemes were developed. The lack of soil information due to the ban on soil testing meant that the engineers had to assume worst case soil conditions, making the design of reinforcements even more conservative. Of the three temples, we decided to start with Indrapur - due to the comparatively high risk of its top-heavy structure and visibly poor existing structural conditions. The design

proposal developed in the US proposed a fairly massive reinforced concrete frame inside of the temple, as an exercise exploring how close a retrofit might come to meeting International Building Code standards. There was some acknowledgement by the designers at the time that this frame was probably too radical an intervention, requiring substantial dismantling of the historical building to insert the rigid frame structure. Meanwhile, for the Narayan temple, strengthening measures along similar lines, an inserted rigid frame in steel with a massive foundation pad deep in the earth, were proposed.

Review of the 18th c. Narayan temple by engineers revealed that the building was in critical need of reinforcement to improve performance in the next earthquake.

In addition to the general issues of roof cover and timber structure deteriorated by the elements, this analysis focused on its vulnerability due to its top heavy tiered roofs and its high center of gravity relative to its slender proportions and raised plinth. In the wake of suspended discussions for the Indrapur Temple reinforcement scheme, this proposed reinforcement work was not accepted for implementation. The decision followed the conservative position of the Department of Archaeology, which both did not consider seismic reinforcement a desirable or critical component in conservation projects and enforced a blanket prohibition on the introduction of reinforced concrete and steel framing. The decision prevented the reinforcing that would have reduced damage to the temple, which suffered heavily in the 2015 earthquake. (The new Guidelines, currently under review by the National Reconstruction Authority, offer a more moderate standard which, if adopted, would allow for a better outcome today.)

Matthias Beckh, a structural engineer from Silman’s office, came to Nepal, volunteering to oversee the work on site, based on the knowledge that site supervision and attention to details for the reinforced concrete work were critical for such interventions (rebar layout and connections needed to be fastidious). He also came in order to

try to ascertain on site through small scale probes more critical information about the existing foundations. This information would be necessary to assess Silman's proposed designs.

While developing the proposals, KVPT held parallel discussions with the Dept. of Archaeology to secure their approval for the technical solutions proposed for Indrapur and Narayan. For purposes of presentation, a variant of the Indrapur design - simplified, smaller, and easier to retrofit - was developed by Ranjitkar for review by the Department. This downsized solution avoided the dismantling of the upper floor necessitated by the Silman scheme, and allowed the new structural members to be less intrusive in the sanctum. This process went on for three months. At each review by the Department and Steering Committee, the introduction of reinforced concrete - even though concealed - was flatly rejected.

The justification by then Dept. Director General was explained on the basis of Unesco’s general prohibition of the use of cement mortar in the Monument Zones.

This put us in a dilemma. Our international funding and donors expected a model project, and the time and research and money invested was already a large output.

Moreover, the Trust was convinced the use of reinforced concrete in the foundation was the appropriate solution, based on thoughtful precedents. Our engineer developed a solution which could be implemented in the course of a weekend, and we planned a temporary fence and a continuous installation period over one weekend.

The new scheme was essentially a reinforced concrete girdle to be developed around the perimeter trench of the plinth, - an improvised solution. We went ahead and implemented a variant of the scheme based on the limited time of the supervising engineer. This variant, a girdle-like ring beam wrapping the plinth foundation, was an intriguing solution because it provided protection with very little damage to or infringement of the building fabric. This underground perimeter girdle was complemented by the myriad of smaller scale solutions

Indrapur and Narayana Temples Top to bottom: Ca. 1930, after 1934, 2000, 2002.

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which were typical of all KVPT projects- as discussed above at Uma Maheshvara and Radha Krishna Temple projects.

The Department scolded KVPT but never pursued any serious action except requesting removal of the concrete.

We apologetically explained that it was irreversible.

Meanwhile, the projects that followed were less risky, and with those, we felt comfortable not pursuing more ambitious - and controversial - measures. The Indrapur survived the 2015 earthquakes intact. The importance of the case study would remain unrecognized until present.

Mahavishnu Temple As another component of the Kathmandu Darbar initiative, KVPT supported the Department of Archaeology's rebuilding of the ruined Mahavishnu Temple just opposite Indrapur. The dilapidated state of this multi-leveled pagoda had resulted from lack of maintenance and water damage to the roof and wall structures. The full reconstruction was undertaken by Department of Archaeology without the introduction of any structural improvements in 2002. The rebuilt temple masonry walls were erected using lime surkhi mortar with white cement.

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The 2011 earthquake: Emergency seismic strengthening of the North Taleju Temple at Patan Palace As we review current responses, it is important to document KVPT’s one critical intervention in response to earthquake damage before the 2015 incidents. On September 18, 2011, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck in the state of Sikkim, India, near the border with Nepal.

Although the earthquake’s epicenter was around 300 kilometers away, this earthquake was felt in the Kathmandu Valley, and caused damage to the Patan Royal Palace Complex. The earthquake revealed weaknesses within the structure between Mul Cok and Nasal Cok (Cok, often transliterated as Chowk, refers to the typical Newar courtyard structure), which had been largely rebuilt after the 1934 earthquake. Major cracks had opened up in the brick masonry walls of the upper Gallery of the North wing of Mul Cok. One such large crack had existed prior to the earthquake, at the Southwest corner of the gallery, but the earthquake had caused the crack to widen visibly. This particular crack, likely caused by improper masonry wall joining techniques at the corner, had broken the out-of-plane stiffness that adjoining walls can provide. The Gallery functions as the entry to the sanctum of the North Taleju temple.

Between the large crack breaking continuity around the SW corner, additional cracks caused by the 2011 earth-

quake within the gallery and the main masonry walls of the North Taleju tower itself, visible redistribution of loads within timber structural elements, and the precariously loose condition of roof struts, this portion of the Patan Royal Palace Complex required urgent attention.

(Additional details, including photos and drawings regarding this project, can be found in the North Taleju chapter of this report.)

Due to these conditions and their apparent urgency in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake, KVPT applied for and received a grant from the Prince Claus Fund in the Netherlands for emergency repairs and strengthening measures on these structures.

German structural engineer Matthias Beckh, who had consulted to KVPT on the Kathmandu Durbar Initiative and other projects, was brought on to assess the damage and provide a structural design for strengthening measures. In addition to various typical strengthening methods that had been implemented in previous KVPT projects, major structural strengthening systems were designed specifically for the North Taleju project.

1. In the gallery of the Mul Cok North Wing, the roof trusses are widely spaced and not connected to one another. This lack of lateral strength increases earthquake risks and could lead to the collapse of the whole structure.

This was a greater concern because of the large crack on the Southwest corner of the gallery; these discontinuities made the tower extremely vulnerable to seismic action.

The new steel braces are joined to the original timber trusses with steel plates and bolts. After the introduction of these steel braces to create a horizontal truss, a rigid diaphragm is created which limits movement in an earthquake. The bracing that was implemented allows for significant stiffening of the structure and is a successful repair that helped the structure survive the 2015 earthquake, but additional work is required to further strengthen the system by implementing the full truss at

Taleju Temple North Structural strengthening of the timber ceiling of the Mul Cok North Wing Gallery, adjacent to the temple Design by Matthias Beckh, May 2012

the Western end, now that the rebuilding of the Western wall is complete.

2. The third floor, or main sanctum level, received a new timber support system with extended and repositioned historic carved columns that joins the beams directly to the historic wooden cornice, providing a strong tie between inner sanctum walls and roof structure. These columns were strategically placed closer to the inner structure for maximum support; and the rafters were connected to the new timber cross beam, which is itself connected to the inner sanctum’s cornice, uniting the walls, roof and inner sanctum of the third level. The new timber framing stiffens and directly structurally connects to the roof system, providing vertical continuity and an alternate path for load distribution as well as connecting the upper roof structure down to the plinth level, which is solid brick masonry down to grade. This continuity helps the building move as a single unit.

3. The fourth floor A-frame timber bracing was installed to strengthen the large timber members that bear the weight of the brick masonry walls from the upper levels of the temple. The bracing here was placed underneath the main timber members on all four sides of the structure. These triangular braces with top and bottom

chords provide support for the timber beams should they fail due to shifted loads during an earthquake. They provide a route to connect the load of the upper tier masonry walls down to the sanctum walls and beyond to the masonry plinth. This continuity increases stiffness and provides a direct load path that relieves the load on the bearing points of the original timber members on the fourth floor walls.

During the course of construction and implementation of this design, no positive structural connection was made between the bracing and the historic timber members. This may have been an on-site decision due to lack of proper materials or a wish to solely support vertical loads in the case that the historic timbers fail in bending due to gravity loads. During seismic activity, this lack of positive structural connection creates a risk of the braces tipping over and failing to fully perform their duties.

This was apparent after the 2015 earthquake, when the tower survived thanks to the improvements, but there was some shift in the upper structure. This can be addressed either by joining the top chord of the four braces, or by doweling into the timber framing above. These installation issues and the damage they allowed point to the difficulty and importance of experienced site supervision of all structural details.

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Part III Current Model Projects after the 2015 Earthquake: Foundations- The New Battleground Since the earthquake, in working to get the funding and planning for a number of significant restoration and rebuilding projects underway, the Trust has had to navigate a new, still-shifting human landscape. Bureaucratic issues have multiplied as billions in foreign aid suddenly pour into the world's tenth-poorest economy. Nepal has faced much difficulty establishing and activating a new

Taleju Temple North The structural strengthening of the timber bracing.

Above Top Building Section showing bracing supporting upper tiers of structure

Above Bottom A-Frame timber bracing as installed.

Left Design detail drawing of the A-frame timber bracing.

Design by Matthias Beckh, May 2012

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responsible agency, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA). The Department of Archaeology’s ability to respond to the loss of historic monuments has been hampered by changes in government, political appointments and priorities, as well as a long-term, chronic paucity of professional manpower. A re-formulation of the Department’s Monument Zone Guidelines, their prescriptive document to guide all work on historic buildings, was developed over many months and finalized for review by the National Reconstruction Authority in summer, 2016. At the time of this writing (September, 2016) the NRA had not yet accepted or revised this doc-

Source: Orientations, Volume 27, Number 1, January 1996, Page 74

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ument. (See the July 2016 draft of these Guidelines, as well as the English translation and illustrated manual prepared by KVPT, in the appendix to this volume.)

The months-long Indian blockade which followed the earthquakes and continued into early 2016 also wreaked havoc on any work plans related to construction, greatly affecting the cost and availability of building materials. Widespread fear that old buildings are unstable and should be replaced with new ones is a critical, existential threat to an enormous number of buildings that withstood the earthquake. Given the present stalemate and the diverse and significant challenges that face preservation work wherever one turns in Nepal, KVPT decided to document and share the current efforts to inspire, stimulate and catalyze more discussions and collaborations.

Cement semantics The single desirable consequence or silver lining to be hoped for after such a tragedy as the 2015 earthquakes was that there would be an eagerness to pursue innovative and appropriate solutions to seismic strengthening. The reality today, though, is that struggles with the official agency and a handful of academics are not any different from the discussions of 1999 or 1994, and today’s work must be understood in this context. Solutions which would be standard fare in any first world country are here considered detrimental to heritage. Curiously, the term ‘traditional materials’ has become the war cry. Prohibitions against excavation to test or study foundations are still holding up work, the government authorities have not been able to clarify their position with respect to norms for reinforcement of structures, and there are constant mix-ups of vocabulary and terms - modern, traditional etc. Seventeen months after the earthquake, there has been no progress on reinforcement in rebuilding except at our project sites and a handful of others. The National Reconstruction Authority is just beginning to function. A widely publicized controversy plays out at a later monument, Rani Pokhari (last rebuilt in 1951). There is no agency which is not being held 80

back. A historical misunderstanding of cement prohibition by UNESCO continues to be played on. Ongoing discussions about timber framed ring beam to strengthen foundations seems illogical for us after seeing failure of the Manimandapas and other structures due in part to wet rot of timber elements.

Three new model projects for seismic strengthening in Nepal: After the earthquake, as we rescued the debris of fallen temples and palaces, established a workshop, worked with supporters worldwide, and began to shape the new campaign, our review of the last 25 yrs of work and our many new projects led to the identification of a few Earthquake Response projects as model seismic designs.

These model projects were chosen so as to target the typical and key challenges Nepal would face in its forthcoming repair and rebuilding of historic structures.

Each of the three model projects is a major structure in its own right within Newar Architecture, each is on the Patan Darbar Square, and each exemplifies certain issues common to many other historic structures which collapsed or suffered damage in the earthquake. And for each, we are exploring and developing a range of potential solutions to address the wide variety of conditions, concerns, and priorities. Of the three, the pāt type exemplified by the Manimandapas, with its open first floor level, is the most challenging type for providing an historically sensitive solution that also includes a code-compliant continuous seismic structure.

Vishveshvara: Stabilizing one of Nepal’s greatest monuments without dismantling The Vishveshvara Temple in Patan Darbar, built by King Siddhinarasimha Malla in 1627, is one of the greatest works of Newar architecture and perhaps the most significant early example of intact Malla-era construction in the Kathmandu Valley. (See an extensive chapter focusing on the documentation of this building

in later pages.) The temple is a rare survival and quite strong in its construction, which likely helped to save it from collapse in April 2015. While the inner structure of the sanctum remained intact, the exterior layer of veneer bricks collapsed, due to an inherent weakness of Newar building techniques. Even more serious, the tenons at the column bases of the outer ambulatory were dislodged. Three weeks after the first earthquake, minimal shoring was put in place by the municipality. KVPT then quickly added further timber shoring to prevent collapse.

The Vishveshvara is still standing thanks to both rounds of emergency shoring, but damage from earlier earthquakes is also evident, although the fabric seems to have been compromised before the earthquake less than that of most Newar structures today. Further shoring still will allow safer access to assess up close the full extent of wood rot, displacement, and other damage inside the sanctum and at the upper levels. Replacement of emergency upper roofs installed in late 1989 will allow the

implementation of a sophisticated seismic scheme, along with a return to the upper temple’s historic configuration.

The restoration and strengthening project under development by the Trust for this temple exemplifies in-situ repairs to a multi-tiered temple that survived the earthquake but needs significant repairs. To stabilize and reinforce this structure in-situ is a valuable exercise and a rare exception to practice in Nepal, where building research is still in its infancy. To execute and publicize a high profile project is an important demonstration to encourage retrofitting as opposed to wholesale rebuilding. Lack of expertise in this still new field of work would make it otherwise mandatory to dismantle the endangered structure and rebuild it, a sadly pervasive trend in post-earthquake contexts.

Investigations to date reveal several important things.

The structure was selected for its artistic importance and level of damage, but ongoing investigations have now

Above The southeast corner suffered the worst damage, wih the timber corner column pushed out in both direction and base stone crushed from altered loads.

Photograph by Rohit Ranjitkar, May, 2015

Vishveshvara Temple Before the earthquake (far left) and after (near left), with emergency shoring.

Photographs by Stanislaw Klimek (2008) and Rohit Ranjitkar,(July, 2015)

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established that the building is one of the rare examples of a major temple whose core structure appears to be surviving original construction. Having withstood the 1833 and 1934 earthquakes, the core structure with its large scale timber frame has already served the building wel; based on its structural viability and venerable age, the temple is all the more worthy as a model project.

Char Narayan Temple: Strategic rebuilding of Newar architecture’s iconic multi-tiered temple While the Vishveshvara Temple is a model and an extension of previous retrofit projects, it seemed most important after the devastation of 2015 to also identify a high-profile project for the rebuilding of a collapsed multi-tiered temple, in order to bring our experience to bear on the opportunities and challenges that would be unique to the rebuilding assignment. The selection of the Char Narayan temple as a model project was rather straightforward, as it was both the earliest remaining Malla-era multi-tiered temple in Patan Darbar Square, and had collapsed down to its plinth in the 2015 earthquake. In our rebuilding project, the exquisite carved timber elements of the temple, some of which are structural, were almost all salvaged, are being restored, and will be reused.

Char Narayana Temple before (left) and after (right) the earthquake of 25 April 2015.

Photographs by Rohit Ranjitkar, 2013 and April 27, 2015

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This significant rebuilding project, which the Trust announced just weeks after the earthquake to create an atmosphere of hope, exemplifies seismic strategies and techniques to address many of the problems typical to the iconic multi-tiered temple type, with its characteristic top-heavy structure and classic Newar construction details. Notably, because of the building’s collapse and necessary rebuilding, we have the opportunity - and the obligation - to strengthen the foundation. Here, in contrast to in situ repair schemes such as the Vishveshvara design and the many retrofits we have executed over the years, we are working to develop a strategic design, ideally more cost-efficient and effective than difficult retrofits. An improved foundation structure is the one strengthening measure that can unify or tie together the structure from the foundation up. Including the foundation is an imperative that must become part of our de facto approach to this type. The significance of this approach in particular as a model is that it will be applicable to a large number of similar buildings. It is also an important example because so few rebuilding projects have been executed in the past.

Similar is the nearby Harishankara temple, another collapsed multi-tiered temple, whose historic elements were rescued and whose reconstruction is envisaged as part

of KVPT’s Earthquake Response Campaign. Harishankara will receive many of the same considerations for reinforcement of plinth and foundations as the Char Narayan, while needing special attention to the open colonnade of timber pillars surrounding the sanctum at the plinth level and supporting the lowest roof. Work on the Harishankara will provide information on the additional challenges of the arcaded variation on the multi-tiered temple type, many of which collapsed in a similar way in 2015 and will need similar seismic work.

Manimandapas: Small historic buildings posing great structural design challenges The open timber-pillared building type exemplified by the Manimandapas was identified as a critical design challenge for rebuilding because of the difficulty of inserting vertical reinforcement in an open plan with no walls to conceal it. This model project is treated extensively in the following section to describe in detail the multiple issues, the creative design process, and the specific conservation and aesthetic challenges.

As it happens, the Manimandapas (or mandapa - in Nepali), a pair of small platforms supporting open, arcaded single-story pavilions flanking the entrance to the

sunken hiti at the north end of the palace and facing the Vishveshvara - are an extraordinary and complex case study. Elements of the patis have been changed over the centuries, but the four central columns of the south Manimandapa appear to date as far back as the 14th or 13th century. Both mandapa collapsed down to their plinths in the April 25 earthquake, falling toward the sunken stepwell to the east. The project is a restoration of their damaged columns and a complete rebuilding.

Challenging, diminutive, and yet prominent because of their history and antiquity, the Manimandapas with their many timber pillars present important conservation issues. On the one hand, the strategy will have to include the modern foundation interventions that are now de facto/imperative (because responsible solutions require modern materials) and are the new frontier with the permitting agency, the Department of Archaeology.

This is where our projects meet the biggest local political challenge - government resistance to soil testing and exploratory excavation (re: the unexplored palimpsest of archaeology, which to date has never been investigated in order to allow projects to proceed)- plus the “no new materials� mantra that precludes the all-important unified foundation.

Manimandapas Manimandapas in 2008 (left) and after the earthquake on April 25 2015 (right), both structures fully collapsed leaving damaged plinths behind after the earthquake.

Photographs by Stanislaw Klimek and Suresh Lakhe, 2008 and April 25, 2015

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On the other hand, the challenge will be to unify these particularly top-heavy patis in spite of the openness of their arcades (which leave no place to hide reinforcements) without destroying them architecturally. Here we meet our greatest preservation challenge in balancing historical and technical, authenticity and seismic integrity.

The Manimandapas are coming to epitomize the post2015-earthquake seismic challenges, just as the Indrapur Temple project of 1992 has for the Trust become emblematic of our seismic work before the earthquake. At the same time, because the two patis collapsed completely down to their plinths in the 2015 earthquake, they are among the rebuilding projects, where the international consensus would support our conclusion that the only responsible seismic solutions must include a unified foundation-for which the use of concealed reinforced concrete is the only known practical solution. It is because this consensus has until now been consistently rejected by the local authority, even since the earthquake, that we say that foundations are the new battleground.

Opposite page Manimandapa analysisSample sheet from thought exercises on pati typologies, recognizing Manimandapa structures as unique and weak in the greater context of pati designs because of the massive masonry walls bearing only on an open timber column arcade.

Sketch by Evan Speer

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KVPT has over a dozen post-earthquake projects in the works as of September 2016, with a handful of other ongoing projects and a number of additional upcoming projects identified. All of these include or will include seismic strengthening design measures that are informed by our past experience and our post-earthquake seismic analysis. In the next section, we present the story of the design work to date for the Manimandapas as a detailed case study of the challenges, processes, and current seismic design conclusions of our new project work since April 25th of 2015.

Part IV South Manimandapa - Seismic Design Case Study For the purposes of the current report, we will take the Manimandapa project - and specifically the South Manimandapa - as an example of our ongoing projects.

Over the past few months, this project has proven to be a unique challenge and has encompassed many of the issues that have arisen on previous projects. We present here a detailed discussion of the progression of this project to date, in order to illustrate our seismic design process and the issues that arise along the way.

The Manimandapa patis present a unique seismic dilemma because of the imposition of a heavy brick masonry perimeter wall bearing on an open arcade of timber columns, -all with no direct vertical connections other than weak traditional timber joints. During the earthquake, these top-heavy structures shifted enough to roll the column tenons out of their base connections and shear the wooden tenons off the tops of columns, leaving the majority of the timber columns intact. The design of this structure is perhaps unique in the Kathmandu Valley.

Several other similar patis either have just a roof structure bearing on a timber arcade, or have a masonry structure above bearing on a partial timber arcade supplemented by at least one brick masonry wall. The comparison of different typologies of the pati structures, some surviving and some collapsing, was among the multiple thought exercises that have accompanied the design process for the rebuild of the Mani Mandapas. This combination of heavy upper structure with weak ground level structure, lack of stiff connections throughout, and the mediocre quality of the plinth construction below, resulted in a perfect recipe for failure in a large earthquake.

The search for solutions for South Manimandapa drove us to consider the range of options for how stiff a seismic intervention should be in a given structure, and what the implications of these options might be.

Early schematic design discussions for this project represent a structural philosophy of creating a very stiff core that inhibits movement of the superstructure (building above ground level). This core would be designed to absorb the lateral forces of the earthquake, creating a strong load path pulling the loads from the upper building elements down to the foundation, thus limiting movement of the building and providing a more stable structure.

This would be considered an operational building performance level and would require strong materials like steel to create a moment-resistive or braced frame system.

This first approach ended up raising what is inherently one of the first big questions in seismic preservation engineering: What level of building performance is desired, and how will that affect the fabric of the building? Prior to the earthquake, KVPT had typically designed to life safety performance, using a myriad of smaller measures that took into account how the seismic measures would affect the historic architecture.

In the context of the Manimandapa, the engineer’s question becomes: Is a system desired that achieves an operational or occupiable level, meaning that the structure will be strong enough to suffer little to no structural damage during a major earthquake? This type of system would require more modern materials and more stringent, complicated structural details, and would change the historical fabric more. Or is a more subtle system desired that leaves the traditional architecture more intact, at the risk of having a structure that is stable enough to protect life safety but would suffer moderate to significant damage in a large earthquake? or the Manimandapa, introducing a stiff steel core and tying the structure to this core could achieve an operational level of building performance, but this would require steel columns or bracing that visibly modify the open timber arcade of the ground floor.

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Alternatively, life safety performance could be achieved using a series of smaller strengthening measures that incorporate wood structural elements with steel reinforcement at connections, resulting in a structure that would experience some damage in an earthquake but is less likely to collapse. The concept here is that a certain amount of movement and damage in the structure is acceptable, but that the structure would at least remain standing long enough for occupants to escape before any partial collapse of the structure.

The original behavior of the traditional materials and methodology of the Newar Architecture allowed for ductility and movement within the structure, and the structural ductility actually helped to dissipate seismic forces throughout the building. This sometimes resulted in significant damage but no full collapse, so damage could be repaired after the earthquake. Lack of maintenance, however, has often weakened structures to the point where their original seismic resistance has been lessened or lost.

Stiffer, operational performance system The choice of an operational or occupiable standard of performance would require a stiffer structural core that would in turn stiffen the entire structure and absorb the seismic loads, tracing them back down to the foundation. This would be some sort of steel assembly that would combat seismic forces by increasing stiffness such that the building would shake as minimally as possible, theoretically experiencing less damage from the earthquake. Unless, of course, the connections are not properly made, in which case the steel could poke through the existing (weaker) structure, similar to the way floor joists displace through the brick wall when the diaphragms shift. This steel system would be tied to the wood elements of the original superstructure layout (wall plates, beams, etc.).

Flexible, life safety performance system The series of smaller interventions would mean super86

structure strengthening measures only in wood, and could include a wall plate similar to that at Vambaha, adding a grid of timber beams above the fanning joists above the arcade and adding bracing at the top of wall level. These wooden elements would have more of the ductility of the original structures, helping much the way that the mud mortar with its lack of cohesion can help (to some extent) to dissipate seismic energy by allowing the bricks to slide against one another. The connections between wood elements, however, would be strengthened with steel to provide continuity and prevent popping of joints. Now, if this sliding is controlled, with a stiff and stable base to connect all the elements and allow them to shake, with a smaller magnitude/displacement, as one element, the chances that the upper structure would survive will be greater. There would be some damage, but collapse is less likely if the whole system is slightly ductile like this. For example, albeit displaced, the Vishveshvara remained standing in 2015.

Mixed system We considered using a system that mixes the two approaches, but the risk could be that we essentially load a very stiff box on top of very weak wood columns. Since the stiffness of the core up above is much greater than the stiffness of the wood columns, this load would be absorbed by the steel and sent down to the wood to make its way to the foundations. That’s where the weak point in the load path would be - at the columns - and they would likely be the first thing to suffer. If instead of this hybrid approach we stick mainly to wood throughout, the upper structure would not absorb and transmit as much load, but rather would dissipate some of it through bending of the wood and movement of the building, sliding of brick, etc. So if the load path were all one type of material, and continuous (meaning, not patched together with additional hinges between new/ old material), the behavior would be more uniform than in a hybrid, and the structure could shake more while still standing.

Either approach would need a more robust and homogeneous foundation able to hold everything in place. The decision of how to strengthen the superstructure is independent of the need to strengthen the foundation, and either system could be fastened down to the foundation to strengthen the column-to-base connections.

Importance of foundations Foundations are the integral link between structure and the earth that is creating the seismic action. For this reason, foundations play a vital role in the seismic behavior of any building. A more general discussion here of the importance of foundations will precede the discussion of project-specific foundation issues.

Buildings experience high stresses at the connection between the superstructure and the foundation during an earthquake, partly because of the drastic change of medium in which the structure is vibrating. Superstructure is typically unrestrained by outside elements, because the surrounding air does not resist horizontal movement and cannot restrain a freestanding building from displacement. Foundations, or substructure, are set within the earth where the restraint is largely determined by soil and bedrock conditions and the types of seismic waves travelling through the ground during an earthquake. This connection is vital, and is often a contributing factor in the failure of historic structures during earthquakes.

One of the main points of seismic strengthening is to tie a structure together so that its connections do not burst.

The act of tying the structure together creates a more robust load path which allows the building to transfer more of the energy from seismic movement up through the structure, then back down again to resolve itself in the foundations. This inherent strengthening of connections means that the structure may absorb more loads than previously, and thus stronger foundations will be needed to accept those loads and transfer them back out to the ground. The foundations in historic Newar archi-

tecture may have originally seen lesser stresses during an earthquake because much of the energy transferred to the building by the earthquake was dissipated in various ways, from the sliding of bricks against one another in the mud mortar (which has little cohesive or true bonding ability), to the shaking of loose timber joints, the inherent ductility of timber elements, or the partial collapse of the building.

While we naturally pay more attention to strengthening parts of the superstructure that we can see, that are above our heads, to prevent them from collapsing, we must also remember that the system and cycle of seismic loads travelling through these buildings ultimately starts (and ends) underground. If we’re strengthening the superstructure, it is especially crucial to strengthen the foundations, as they will likely be seeing more stress than before.

Homogeneity of foundations is critical in providing stability to the structure. In materials such as mud mortar brick masonry, if a heavy load is applied in one area, the connection between the bricks established by the mortar is often not strong enough to spread that load out across a large area. This lack of homogeneity can often result in local failures at loaded areas, even if the building has a massive brick masonry foundation. The inherent weaknesses of the medium and its inability to distribute forces throughout can result in failure mechanisms that could be easily avoided otherwise. Brick masonry using lime mortars as bonding agents slightly increases homogeneity as compared to mud mortars. But lime mortars chemically react with water and break down, losing that bond in foundation applications. There is still a significant heterogeneity between the brick and mortar elements (having different strength properties), and under high stresses, the materials fail at the interface between the two. Brick masonry with cement mortar is slightly better suited for foundation applications because of its reduced water solubility, but the heterogeneity of the material remains.

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search for a responsible solution that would be acceptable to the Deparment of Archaeology. Up to this point, the foundations have proven to be the most involved aspect of design and discussion for the structure. This was somewhat surprising as this structure is one of the smallest in Patan Darbar.

The main technical boundary conditions on foundation design includes the limited footprint around the site due to the adjacent public well, limited materials and construction techniques available in Nepal, and the limited depth allowed for foundations due to the presence of water supply pipes running to the adjacent well.

Plan drawing of Manimandapas showing the proximity to the adjacent Manga Hiti public well.

The north end of the South Manimandapa is highlighted, showing how it is bearing directly onto the wall of the well’s staircase. This is one of several unique boundary conditions to consider in this project.

Base drawing from Becker-Ritterspach, 1994

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Reinforced concrete is the main example of a highly homogeneous material, and that is one of the major factors resulting in its widespread use as the main foundation material in new structures and for rebuilding of historic structures. The application of a poured liquid medium that assumes its final shape and cures into a solid mass, when properly proportioned and mixed, can provide an extremely homogeneous mix of strong foundation material.

Foundation development at South Manimandapa Foundation development took the forefront in the discussions for this project, more so than usual, because approval was needed before construction could begin, and this proved to be difficult to obtain. Schedules and funding deadlines, largely based on assumptions that the project should be straightforward due to the size of the structure, quickly began to fall behind due to development of several iterations of foundation options in

The main concept behind the foundations is that we need to tie together the building elements, such as base stones that were not properly tied back to the plinth structure. In addition to the typical idea of having a small concrete ring beam behind the base stones to allow for anchoring the base stones back to continuous structure (via stainless steel dowels), multiple concepts were developed for the foundations during the design process.

One early concept was to implement a steel grillage beam foundation. Grillage foundations are steel wide flange sections assembled in grids and embedded into the ground. These are used in areas of weak soils and also to utilize a building’s self weight to combat the overturning forces of top-heavy structures such as the Manimandapa. This system would be best utilized if the structural system above included a stiff central core, as central steel columns could be run directly down to the grillage beams and provide a solid load path. Features of this solution include that it avoids extensive use of reinforced concrete, can be assembled and constructed more quickly, can provide substantial lever arm to combat overturning lateral forces, and if stainless steel beams are encased in concrete or cementitious mortar, the lifespan can be much higher than other foundation types. To obtain the proper counterbalance force against overturning in the case of the Manimandapas, however, the grillage beams need to be at least 4 feet below grade. This pre-

Manimandapa Axonometric and elevation views showing the grillage beam concept with the plinth ghosted in for reference. Grillage foundations involve a grid of steel beams buried deep underneath the plinth and rely on the weight of foundations and soils above, including the brick masonry of the plinth, to counteract the overturning forces of the upper structure moving in an earthquake.

Sketch by Evan Speer

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sents issues at South Manimandapa because of the relatively shallow water utility pipes that supply the adjacent public well. The beams could be set shallower but would then need additional weight to act as counterbalance, which would involve using a thicker cementitious mortar encasement. This cementitious mortar encasement, being below grade, would likely have to be some sort of Portland cement. The use of steel below grade was more likely to gain approval, but the use of a Portland cement encasement could present issues.

Another concept investigated was that of base isolation, to reduce the friction of the building atop the foundations. This approach seeks to reduce the shear forces transferred into the building structure by reducing the stiffness of the connection between the the structure and the ground. This is accomplished by using elastomeric rubber bearing pads to “isolate” the base of the structure from the ground. This strategy reduces acceleration of the structure and thus slows the frequency of its vibration. The building will still move but at a much slower rate, which the building elements and their connections are more likely to withstand. Advantages of this system include virtual invisibility after implementation, and the

Manimandpa Base isolation detail showing two layers of concrete foundation separated by elastomeric rubber isolator.

This isolator essentially reduces the frequency of vibration of the structure by cutting the direct connection between the structure and the ground, allowing seismic forces to be transferred through the rubber isolator pads.

Sketch by Evan Speer

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creation of a solid base from which to build up. Introduction of this system drastically reduces seismic risk on structures and allows for reduction in seismic strengthening in above-grade architectural spaces. This method, however, requires two layers of strong and homogeneous structure within foundation and can be initially expensive to implement. The new technology may also be difficult to obtain or regulate in Kathmandu Valley, and with the typical long-period of earthquakes in Nepal, with slower vibrations and longer displacements, the system did not seem to be worth the added cost and difficulty in the approval process.

The most current and preferred iteration of foundation design is to introduce a slab with a shear key. This iteration developed from an earlier design with a mat slab foundation, involving a thick concrete slab that uses the weight of the concrete and plinth to counter the overturning of the structure. This option allows for the continuity and stability of a mat slab, but with a thinner and shallower slab that transfers the base shear of the building into the ground through a cruciform concrete “key” that goes deeper into the ground to essentially “lock” the foundation into the site. This system consolidates the foundation to make it less invasive than a mat slab or grillage, does not require as much concrete as a mat slab or as much overall depth as the grillage, and would still be hidden after construction. This design ends up being closer to the traditional configuration of the structure, as the columns would attach down to a flat surface, but the new consolidated plinth will stiffen the base, ultimately cutting down on displacements within the superstructure. This will also act as a solid base to anchor the plinth base stones, strengthening the load path coming down from the columns.

This system still, however, utilizes as the main foundation system reinforced concrete, for which it has proven difficult thus far to obtain full permissions. Proper implementation of this system requires a great deal of care in detailing and placement of reinforcing steel, especially

at the interface between the slab and shear key. Inadequate detailing could drastically affect the lifespan and effectiveness of the structure in an earthquake.

Superstructure Above grade, the main challenge at the South Mani Mandapa structure is how to connect the heavy brick masonry and timber structure above the ground level arcade back down to the foundations while maintaining as much historic fabric and architectural integrity as possible. The top-heavy nature of the structures, the slender and delicate nature of the highly carved historic columns, the lack of tensile capacity in the connections and timber joinery, and a variety of other structural discontinuities and weaknesses make this connection vital to the success of the project. Adding to the structural complexity are the desire to retain the sound timber of the historic central core columns (mainly intact, with lowest 1-2 feet requiring replacement due to wet rot) and the discontinuities introduced by repairs at the perimeter columns.

The outer columns of South Mani Mandapa have been repaired, with the exception of one replaced column, and these columns will be tied to the base stones beneath them via stainless steel dowels set in a structural epoxy.

This will add tensile capacity to these connections so that the column tenons will not rock or pull out of their mortises as they did in 2015.

Several design iterations were also developed and discussed for treating the 4 central columns as a core, as the discussion of whether to use a stiff core or a more flexible overall system progressed. The following concepts were just some of those considered, following on the concepts presented by structural engineer Evan Speer’s August 2015 report.

Option 1 An initial concept was to simply replace the four central columns with new timber to provide continuous,

stronger timber columns. These timber columns would bear on a steel base plate connection to the foundation system, be it a concrete slab or steel grillage. The columns would have doweled connections into the foundations to tie the columns down to the foundations. This concept would provide a continuous column with no exposed steel, which preserves the original architectural feel. It introduces new, continuous wood providing a more robust load path than historic timber joined with new timber at the base, and can keep the historic layout of the timber column. This concept however, would require the removal of original, historic timber columns

Manimandpa conceptual diagrams of a stiff central steel column core for South Manimandapa, developed in August 2015 by Evan Speer. This concept sought to bring the structure up to an operational performance level, but required replacing the central historic timber columns with steel. This started the discussion about choosing between a stiff core and a flexible system.

Sketch by Evan Speer, 2015

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Near right Manimandapa Concept showing development of layout of steel columns described in Option 2.

Development of this idea between the architects and engineers on the team sought to find a strong and stable reinforcing structure with a layout that most respected the historical layout while minimizing amount of steel.

Sketch by Liz Newman, June 2016

from the structure - to be stored, ideally, in a museum exhibit.

Far right, above and below Conceptual model and section detail of the timber arcade at South Manimandapa to observe the effect of installing steel tension rods as cross bracing to strengthen the central core against lateral forces. This design sought to reinforce the historic carved columns by providing an extra tie to rout load from the masonry walls down to the plinth without removing the columns or reducing their visibility.

3D study and sketch by Evan Speer, June 2016

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Option 2 The next concept involved joining sound existing timber with new timber at the base to replace wood lost to rot. The columns would then be reinstalled in a similar fashion, supplemented by installing steel hollow section columns up from a steel grillage foundation (offset from the remaining timber columns) to provide a stiffer structural core. This system could consist of either four larger steel columns in the central core, or 4 smaller columns in the central core, with 4 small columns at the outer corners as well. This could provides a strong, continuous steel frame to stiffen the structure and provide a suitable load path to help prevent overturning and collapse (and perhaps even cosmetic damage) of the structure, while allowing the central timber columns to remain. The timber central columns would then be relieved of their duty as structural columns. This option would result in a consistent path through the steel elements. Consistent load paths are preferable, because if a load path consists of multiple materials such as steel and timber, the stiffer element may route more load into a element of lesser strength material than it could handle, resulting in failures at the interface between materials. Visibility and ambiance through the timber arcade would be disrupted by the newly introduced steel columns, but the verticality of the arcade would remain. This concept was also left

aside for aesthetic reasons and because the introduction of a new structure woven through the traditional framework of the building would limit access to the central core and throughout the structure.

Option 3 This option investigated joining sound existing timber with new timber at its rotten base, and encase the timber columns with hollow steel section from just above the resulting timber joint down to a slab or grillage foundation. The structure above the ground floor arcade would then be reinforced with timber beams and steel collars at the intersections of the central core columns. Small solid steel tension rods would then act as cross bracing at the ground floor to connect the steel reinforcing on central core columns. This option would result in the potential to keep the historic timbers in the structure, and the visibility of these timbers would not be inhibited.

There would, however, be steel tension rods installed to provide a secondary load path for lateral loads that pull against the building, allowing these loads to be pulled back down into the foundation.Visibility through the timber arcade would be slightly disrupted by the cross bracing, and access to the central core of the structure would be impeded. This option would not be viable at the Manimandapa North, because the central core of the structure is used for religious puja. Additionally, the historic timber elements would still be used for gravity loads, so it would be a composite system whose connections and geometry of cross bracing would be more difficult to determine and implement. The complexity, difficulty of implementation, and visibility of this system rendered it nonviable for the current situation.

Option 4 A later option involved joining sound existing timber with new timber at column bases, encased with a fitted steel shoe that slides onto the base of the timber column.

This shoe would be either embedded into a slab or bolted/welded to a grillage foundation, and would allow for embedded dowels to secure the timber column. Ensur-

ing that the shoe fully covers the timber joint, the wood would be routed at the edges to leave the timber column and the steel faces flush. The columns would then also be connected to a grid of horizontal timber beams just above the open arcade to stiffen them by shortening the span. The intersections of these beams would be reinforced with steel angles, and dowels would pin the columns at this point. This way, the main architectural feel and appearance remain intact, wood joinery and base connection are strengthened against lateral loads, and we are able to keep the historic timbers in the structure.

This allows for a flexible system, utilizing mainly timber framing in the upper structure, with reinforced connections and a stable foundation to limit vibrations. This option would be a compromise structurally, but would still be a significant improvement in safety and stability over the original construction.

The design compromise that was chosen evolved from Option 4 as described above. With a base foundation utilizing a reinforced concrete slab with cruciform shear key as its base, this would aid in the establishment of a damp proof course. The columns and base stones would have direct positive structural connections down to this concealed concrete slab. This would provide resistance against the pullout seen at these connections during the

Above Left Development of a stainless steel shoe detail for the base connection of the central core timber columns to a concrete foundation. This involves a steel base plate recessed into the concrete with predrilled holes. Stainless steel rods would then be embedded into structural epoxy in drilled holes in both the timber column and the concrete foundation. A simplified construction method was developed to prefabricate the shoe and to use it as a template to ensure proper location and alignment of the anchor holes.

Above Right Section detail (plan view) showing the connection of new horizontal timber beams atop the columns with reinforced joints and a dowel (embedded in structural epoxy) connecting the central core column to the beams to stiffen the system.

Both sketches by Evan Speer, July 2016

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The main goals of this solution are to limit the weight of the structure and to strengthen the connection between all of its elements. The strategy is utilizing smart timber framing with steel connections to tighten connections between elements and reduce the movement caused by loose joints. This solution seeks to respect the historic fabric of the columns and the traditional architecture, but also to address key vulnerabilities in the original makeup by using localized strengthening measures to improve the resilience of the load path and allow the structure to remain flexible, so it can adapt to shifted load paths during an earthquake, seeking a life safety performance level with the added timber structure. This compromise was seen to be the best way forward in the unique situation presented by the current state of the industry and approvals process in Nepal.

Manimandapa Design development axonometric sketch of timber bracing in the upper level of the structure to tie the upper and lower level together with a substantial timber frame, while stiffening the core and providing stronger connections throughout via steel reinforcing elements.

Sketch by Evan Speer, August 16, 2016

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collapse of the Mani Mandapa structures in the earthquake. This and several other typical seismic strengthening details, as seen in the ‘seismic issues’ section of this report, will be adapted throughout. Stainless steel sleeves will be attached to the tops of the outer columns and their tenons to strengthen these connections against the shear failure of the tenons seen during the 2015 earthquake. Stainless steel reinforcement will aid in strengthening the horizontal timber beams above the ground floor arcade. Steel angles will be placed around the perimeter at this level to connect the timber beams with the timber wall elements and to further stiffen the wall. Diagonal timber bracing and recessed timber frame will be added within masonry walls to provide redundant and adaptable load paths to allow the building to resolve loads if there are shifts in weight distribution or local failures in brick masonry. Multiple layered wooden wall plates will also be included to strengthen the timber frame within the structure.

Part V Current thoughts on seismic strengthening As we continue to think and design, ideas evolve. Following are current thoughts, including lessons learned over the last 25 years - and since the earthquake: • Life safety is always a main priority So much discussion in the field of preservation of historic monuments delves deep into philosophies and priorities of the actual preservation of the monuments and buildings themselves, that sometimes this fundamental topic is lost in the details. It must always remain in the forefront of our minds that the buildings we work on are living heritage and are used daily to serve the people of the community. Without them, these buildings serve no purpose, and the safety of those using the buildings must always be considered at the forefront of any preservation project.

• Foundations are the critical battleground Reinforcing foundations is the opportunity and obligation created by the need to rebuild collapsed structures after the earthquake! This is a new frontier because earlier projects have been in situ repairs, which do not lend themselves to foundation work.

As the foundations are essentially the link between buildings and the ground, they are the first to experience seismic motion. If no investigation is allowed, or no foundation strengthening completed, then any rebuild runs the risk of damage because of this weak link. After the earthquake, we have the unique opportunity to easily access many foundations to study soil composition and introduce strengthening measures largely invisible upon completion of construction. Continuity of foundations to provide a stable base increases safety of the structures while helping to reduce visible strengthening measures.

Local opposition to the use of concrete - even concealed in foundations, which is an international preservation

norm - continues to prevent the official acceptance of this idea and the permitting of projects which include it, as it has for the last 25 years. After the loss of life and heritage of the 2015 earthquake, we renew the search for the way forward.

• Critical distinctions between historic/original, later, "traditional," and modern materials So-called “traditional materials” are often misleading.

While they may have been widely used for decades, many are not original to the historic structures. Our strategy is to reuse and to return to original materials and forms wherever possible. With rare exceptions, if traditional means and materials are not sufficient for durability and life safety goals, we retain the historic materials and forms where they are visible and add modern interventions, usually concealed, to achieve performance.

• Modern materials are sometimes the only solution (and cement and concrete are not the same).

In keeping with their philosophy, ICOMOS experts provided an early prohibition of lime-based mortars to replace traditional mud mortar. This conforms to international norms; we have removed Portland cement from traditional structures it has damaged (eg Bhandarkhal pavilion at Patan Palace). Lime surkhi, although in the lexicon of traditional materials in Newar architecture, is not a suitable ‘substitution’ for concrete. Lime mortar has a much lower compressive strength and much longer curing time than Portland cement, and is much more susceptible to water damage. Proposed by others as a traditional material to be used in foundations instead of concrete because it was used above grade in Newar construction for a time in the past, lime mortar is considerably stronger as a bonding agent than mud mortar, but is extremely weak in foundations because lime breaks down over time with exposure to water. Typical Western guidelines shy away from ever using more than 10-30% lime in concrete mixes below grade, and that is in the driest, most ideal soil conditions. So soil conditions in the Kathmandu Valley, in a former lakebed with 95

cyclical monsoon rains, would be extremely detrimental to lime mortar brick masonry foundations.

Generalizing this prohibition of cement to all uses of concrete, even in a concealed, carefully considered, well-executed seismic strengthening measure in a rebuilt foundation, is a different matter.

Wherever possible, we have used traditional materials, but...it bears repeating that this is where the Venice Charter and other international documents support the use of ‘modern material’: “ where traditional techniques prove inadequate, the consolidation of a monument can be achieved by the use of any modern technique for conservation and construction, the efficacy of which has been shown by scientific data and proved by experience.” (Venice Charter, Section 10) Consolidation for reasons of life safety and survival of structures during future earthquakes is our justification for this use of modern techniques.

• Authenticity/seismic balance It is critical to find a balance between historic and seismic demands. This - very importantly - also includes choices between stiff unified structural systems and flexible traditional systems with improvements. In-between/ hybrid solutions can be problematic in their seismic performance. The exposition on the Mani Mandapas demonstrates this, in finding that full life safety/ code compliance would have required an outsized full structural frame that would destroy the building’s architectural integrity. We thus had to back off to accept a reasonable level of safety, designing a system that would leave time for egress from these tiny, open pavilions without detracting excessively from their architecture.

This is why the foundation design that makes this solution possible is so compelling, and traditional Newar materials provide no purely traditional option for unifying the structure below grade in this way.

• Quality of implementation The best seismic scheme in the world isn’t worth much 96

unless there is excellent and experienced site supervision and appropriate quality control inspections of the details. This implies that engineers and architects should be often on site and focused on the details of building safety.

• East vs. West There are seismic implications to deliberately imposing the Western focus on retaining historic fabric (above ground) onto the Newar context where replacement is not only acceptable but preferred. Most of what we do increases earthquake resistance, but at the limit, some repaired elements that our carpenters would have preferred to recarve from scratch are not strong enough (Manimandapa columns).

• Philosophy and priorities Repair and maximizing historical fabric retention - such as the original carved timber columns of the Manimandapas - and achieving historical configurations - are priorities. When rebuilding, KVPT’s preference is retaining or rebuilding the historical, Newar configuration while adding layers of strengthening. As discussions of the Manimandapas show, we have found this preferable to building a new hybrid system.

• Solutions not slogans Our approach is a rigorous and detailed study and analysis of individual buildings to identify risk levels, the building history, possible levels of intervention, strategic engineering design options (eg Indrapur) and appropriate technology. Newar buildings have many special characteristics to be addressed - and we have been identifying them over the years.

• Documentation and information sharing We have reviewed our quarter-century of experience addressing seismic strengthening of Newar architecture and are in the process of documenting it in detail. In addition to creating a record of the work, which opens a new field of study and practice in Nepal, our aim is

to make it available to other agencies coming to the Kathmandu Valley to help with rebuilding heritage who might be interested.

• Ideology vs science (politicization of technical issues) The local campaigns to avoid modern materials are worrisome and counterproductive-- essentially as they preclude doing seismic strengthening methods/technology in the foundations - where steel and reinforced concrete have been shown around the world to be the only feasible and durable solutions. These can have lifespans well in excess of 75 years if properly detailed and maintained, and these materials are used all over the world, including heritage sites.

• Agreement on fundamentals Still, we are in agreement with most of what the local campaigners are saying and we share their ultimate goals of preserving. The difference is where a technical matter becomes an ideological sticking point.

• Connections Newar Architecture has long been known for weak connections between building elements. Wood joints that have room to move, timber columns with tenons only 1 inch long, chukul pegs at rafters that are meant to be tightened periodically but aren’t, struts that rely on roof loads to hold them in place with no direct connection, - the list goes on. The materials and the heavy use of strong timber should typically yield better seismic stability, but the weak point lies in the connections that easily pull apart during seismic motion. Meanwhile, the ends of timber elements rot in poorly maintained Newar structures. Reinforcing of connections between sound existing building elements with direct structural connections using stainless steel dowels and plates can go a long way to making these buildings safer.

Damp proofing This necessary protection is not in the lexicon of tra-

ditional Newar design and materials, but it is critical for palace courtyard structures and other residential buildings whose walls rise from grade, where materials in the zone of cyclical rising damp (between the dry upper walls and the damp foundations/lower walls) suffer.

Without damp proofing, progressive rotting of timbers and deterioration of brick in this zone- roughly from knee-level to shoulder level - weaken the structure and reduce its seismic resistance. A damp proofing course (eg copper sheets) can be inserted in situ in a retrofit with some difficulty, but is worthwhile (eg Patan Museum; Sundari Cok).

In the discussion of rebuilding projects with reinforced concrete ring beams in the foundations, concrete can economically play a dual role in damp proofing as well as unifying the structure. At the classic Newar temples, atop their high plinths, rising damp is less of an issue although still a factor to address when rebuilding.

At the Manimandapas, damp proofing is a critical function of the proposed concrete slab below grade because it protects the wooden lakansi beams which hold the column bases with their vulnerable end grain cuts sitting less than a meter above grade. Protecting these column base connections from rot is a key to the survival of the structures in an earthquake.

• A story set in stone at fallen temples A common pattern of failure appeared after the earthquake in the classic multi-tiered temples with an outer timber arcade of columns on the ground floor. As the earthquake shook the temple with a combination of vertical and lateral forces, large bearing loads were partially relieved from the base stones under the columns.

Since there is no direct connection holding the stones back to the plinth, the outer corner of the top plinth (threshold) level was rotated out of place by the column resting on it. Telltale rotated stones are still visible today at plinths awaiting the rebuilding of temples-, eg at the northeast corner of the Harishankara. The column base 97

kicked out at the same time, and this became part of the progressive collapse of the temple. Connecting the plinth stones to each other, to the foundation, and to the columns above is a major and critical step in protecting temples from future earthquakes.

• Maintenance? What maintenance?

Because of the centuries-long history of lack of maintenance of Newar structures (even our own Newar lead architect jokes that lack of maintenance is “in our blood”), we assume little to no long-term future maintenance of our projects and design accordingly, aiming for the greatest possible durability in the face of this reality.

• Contending voices for authenticity Authenticity is a loaded term in preservation practice.

We recognize that our assumptions about its meaning, however carefully conceived, are our own, and that others have contending views. These assumptions have a profound influence on seismic design solutions.

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Char Narayana Temple (Cārnārāyaṇa Temple)

Assemblage and storage of four portals in June 2015 Excavation of foundations in early August 2015 Work resumed in early September 2015 Inner doorways of sanctum completed in November 2015 Repair / restoration of the eastern portal completed in early September 2016 Work on southern portal in progress Work on western and northern portals taken up in mid September 2016

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Cārnārā aṇa Temple

by Niels Gutschow

The inscription at the eastern portal is dated to 1565, and mentions Purandarasi ha as the donor. As a member of the Patan nobility (mahāpātra), his father Vi usi ha had already usurped power in 15 6. His three sons took over and reigned until 1597 when ivasi ha wrested Patan back from the local dynasty and restored it to Malla rule.

The mahāpatras built the first three of the extant temples on the city's Darbār Square, all of them dedicated to Vi u, following on the Vi udharmottara Purā a's commendation of a great temple to Vi u as the completion of a King of Kings' accession to universal sovereign ty. The act itself had, as ronwen ledsoe (200 ) says, an operative quality, and the agent emerges as a yet more perfect version of the royal self. In one case, it is sovereignty (sāmrājya) which is said to arrive at the moment the gift is made; in another the extended ceremony of consecration is likened to rājas ya, the Vedic 'birth of a king'; in the last, the king becomes the deity itself.

Purandarasi ha built a copy of the Cārnārāya a temple in Kathmandu (which is known as Jagannātha temple): one fifth smaller but ostensibly in the tradition of those monumental royal temples for which the Pa upatināth set the standards. Twenty-four years later he introduced a new architectural style to the square with the ikhara tower of the Narasimha temple, while his brother Udhavasi ha established an dinārāya a temple in 1569 of which only the deity survives in a narrow provisional cell under a dome, erected after the 1934 earthquake.

The temple's threshold of three blocks of stone, measuring altogether 581 centimetres and with separate corner stones featuring winged lions, documents the last effort to install a monumental base. The principal access from the east is guarded by a pair of lions on the lower level and a pair of guardians, possibly Yama and Kuber, on the upper level. With tripartite portals, flanked by aedicules dedicated to the eight guardians (dikpālas) of the

regions, and with tympana surmounding the central opening, the four sides are identical except for the eastern threshold, which is moulded with a stepped outer frame. On the remaining sides the threshold stone is flush with the wall surface and is thus made to support the colonnettes. Devotees enter the temple for daily worship from the east, present offerings to the officiating rahmin priest from the east, receive prasād, circumambulate the sanctum and leave the temple through the northern door. The sanctum holds a block of stone with the four manifestations (caturvyūha) of Vi u in upright position: in the east Vāsudeva, in the south Sa kar a a, in the west Pradyumna and in the north niruddha, that is, his elder brother, his son and his grandson. The central scene of the tympana reflects these manifestations: in the east K a (Kāliyadamana), in the south Vi u, in the west Mahālak mi, flanked by Mahe var and Vai v , and in the north Narasi ha.

Sixteen struts and four corner struts support the wide eaves of the lower roof. These were no longer carved from a single block of timber because four, six or eight arms have been added. Should the struts be contemporary with the portals and have not been replaced a hundred years later, they demonstrate a departure from earlier traditions. Inscriptions at the upper end of the struts allow an exact identification, although most of them are modelled to the inspiration of the builders to testify to the variety of forms K a assumes.

Following earlier prototypes, the struts are divided into three registers: small figures or scenes amidst rockery at the bottom, foliage on top, in the centre manifestations of Vi u as slender figures, almost dancing with their legs crossed, complete with crown (mukuṭa), earrings (kuṇḍala) and necklaces (hāra). Twelve of these are dedicated to Vi u's manifestation as the cowherd (gopāla) K a. eside these, dinārāya a, the primeval Nārāya a, guards the south eastern corner, and the copper-coloured boar (Tāmravarāha) and the flaming man-lion (Jvālānarasiṃha) the principal access.

Opposite Cārnārāya a Temple Photo by Stanislaw Klimek, August 2008

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Cārnārāya a Temple Northern elevation: View from the southeast across the corner.

The inscription testifies to the consecration of the temple by Purandarasi ha in 1565. Corner stones with projecting lions bridge the gap between the thresholds on either side to ensure a continous base in stone. Only the threshold of the eastern portal has a triple-stepped outer frame, which requires a separate lion block for the colonnettes.

Photo S. Klimek, August 31, 2008

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Cārnārāya a Temple Elevation north: Lak m nārāya a (left), Umāmahe vara (right), occupying the quarter-round panels, on the wall-brackets unidentified female deities carrying sacred water pots (kalaśa).

Photograph by S. Klimek, August 31, 2008

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Cārnārāya a Temple Plan scale 1:100.

Source: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, 2011, 420.

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Cārnārāya a Temple Two deities (Yama and Kuber) flanking the stair leading to the platform on which the temples stands.

Photograph by Jaroslav Poncar, August 9, 2014

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Cārnārāya a Temple Tripartite eastern portal.

Photograph by S. Klimek, August 31, 2008

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Cārnārāya a Temple.

Eastern portal, tympanum Photograph by J. Poncar, August 9, 2014

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Cārnārāya a Temple Tripartite southern portal.

Photograph by S. Klimek, August 31, 2008

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Cārnārāya a Temple.

Tympanum (torana) of southern portal.

Photograph by J. Poncar, August 9, 2014

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Cārnārāya a Temple.

Tripartite western portal.

Photograph by S. Klimek, August 31, 2008

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Cārnārāya a Temple Tympanum (torana) above western portal.

Photograph by J. Poncar, August 9, 2014

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Cārnārāya a Temple Tripartite northern portal.

Photograph by S. Klimek, August 31, 2008

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Cārnārāya a Temple.

Tympanum (torana) above northern portal.

Photograph by J. Poncar, August 9, 2014

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Char Narayana Temple after earthquake Photograph by Rohit Ranjitkar, April 27, 2015

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Char Narayana Temple The clearing of the site began immediately after the total collapse of the structure during the earthquake of 25 April 2015, Timber elements were salvaged.

Photograph by Rohit Ranjitkar, April 29, 2015

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Char Narayana

Opposite Char Narayana Temple Detail of a pencil drawing, made by Rajman Singh for Brian Houghton Hodgson, the former British Resident, ca. 1844.

Hodgson had inscribed the drawing at the bottom in pencil, later in ink, indentifying the temple erroneously as “ Tou Deo or Maha Déva”. By the tripartite portal the temple is easily identifiable as the Char Narayana temple, of which the roofs obviously collapsed in the 1833 earthquake.

The ruin was exposed to the rains for a period of more than eleven years, causing the collapse of the corners and some of the windows. This long period of neglect and poor maintenance was probably instrumental in the total collapse of the temple in 2015.

Courtesy: Royal Asiatic Society, 022.013.

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After the temple collapsed on 25 April 2015, almost all architectural fragments could be salvaged and stored with the help of the army and police at the neighboring Keshav Narayan Chowk of the palace.

In May the preserved constituent parts of the four portals were sorted out. In June the four portals were provisionally assembled and stored in low shelter structures, well protected against weather. The four ground floor tympana and the first and second floor windows were stored in storage shacks, and the struts were kept at the Keshav Narayan Chowk.

In early May the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University (Germany) initiated a fundraising campaign for the rebuilding of the temple which was overwhelmingly successful. In June the first installment was transferred and later in the year a second installment. In July the John Eskenazi oundation (London) joined and a few weeks later the onham Auction House, New ork.

On June 2, 2015, a conciliatory puja was performed after the full clearance of the site to allow the devotees to worship in situ the Char Narayan stele, which remained unharmed and unmoved in the center of the temple’s sanctum. A canopy was added later.

On 10 September 2016 another conciliatory ritual (kṣemapūjā) was performed to allow further interventions in the wake of the rebuilding of the temple.

Foundations Soil tests were made in July 2015 and excavation of the brick foundations on the northern and western sides of the temple started on August 10. The Department of Archaeology had this work stopped after ten days with the argument that the touching of soil should be supervised by an archaeologist.

Only on 5 September 2016 was the digging up of the foundations resumed in order to meet virgin soil. The aim is to strengthen the foundation by filling the gap between the brick foundation walls below the wall of the

sanctum and the outer wall of the temple with regular bricks.

The introduction of a grid of reinforced concrete - as proposed by Matthias eckh in August 2015 - remained an issue of discussion in September. round oor The seed money received by the South Asia Institute enabled the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust to engage two carpenters in May to assemble the windows and portals. In July these carpenters started to replace the inner frames of the four doorways of the sanctum.

This work was completed in January 2016. The eight door leaves of pine wood were not found in the debris and will be replaced by the end of 2016.

Of the four portals, first the southern one was moved to the workshop in January, repair / restoration (see elevation drawing) of missing and damaged parts was completed in May. Work on the eastern portal started in June, work (see elevation drawing) will be completed by the end of September. The western portal was moved to the workshop on 27 August to be completely repaired by December. The northern portal, which requires comparatively small interventions, will be shifted to the workshop in November. Work on all portals will be complete by the end of 2016. Then each will be installed in an upright position, supported by a provisional threshold of wood, before being joined to the threshold in stone in its original position.

The 24 door leaves in pine of the portals were not recovered from the debris. They will be produced in November and be in place when the portals are stored in an upright position.

Seven of the eight aedicules flanking the portals and bearing the guardians of the universe will need only little repair. One aedicule (west-south) was lost to theft in 2010 and will have to be replicated.

The inner frames of the four portals are not fully preserved. Simple carpentry will replace the missing parts.

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The four-stepped cornice is heavily damaged. It will be repaired / replaced in January to March 2017. 15,000 veneer bricks will be ordered in October. Taking into account the above tentative times frames, construction of the ground floor of the Char Narayan temple might start in April 2017.

First level The twelve windows are not in very bad condition.

About a quarter of the constitutive elements such as the cornices and the outer frames need replacement. Of the 24 struts and four corner struts, only one corner strut

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is broken. This will be bolted and strengthened with a strap of steel on its back. The tympana are of secondary quality and must date to the repair of the temple in the 18 0s. Not all tympana were preserved before the earthquake.

Second level The four windows are not in very bad condition. One quarter to one fifth of the elements need repair. Eight plaques / aedicules on both sides of the windows need minor repair. The sixteen struts and four corner struts need minor repair.

Char Narayana Temple The four portals have been assembled and stored in a shelter in June 2015.

Photograph by Niels Gutschow, August 12, 2015

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Char Narayana Temple Tympanum (tora a) of the eastern portal.

Photograph by Niels Gutschow, August 12, 2015

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Char Narayana Temple Tympanum (tora a) of the southern portal.

Photograph by Niels Gutschow, August 12, 2015

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Char Narayana Temple Conciliatory ritual (kṣemapūjā) after the clearance of the temple’s plinth to allow devotees to worship the deity.

Photographs by Rohit Ranjitkar and Raju Roka, June 2, 2015

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Char Narayana Temple Inspection of the trench between the wall of the sanctum and the outer wall to determine the level of virgin soil (left) on the northern side of the temple, and between the wall defining the edge of the lower and upper levels of the plinth (right).

Photographs by Raju Roka, August 10, 2015

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Char Narayana Temple Repair / restoration of the four doorways of the sanctum started in July 2015 and was completed in November. Minor parts of the stepped outer frame and the mediating quarter round Ushaped frame had to be replaced.

Photograph by Raju Roka December 1, 2015

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Left Char Narayana Temple East elevations, original and proposed construction - without roofs.

Graphic by Evan Speer, July 2016

Right Char Narayana Temple Axons, original and proposed construction- without roofs.

Graphic by Evan Speer, July 2016

Left Char Narayana Temple East-west sections, original and proposed construction.

Graphic by Evan Speer, July 2016

Right Char Narayana Temple East elevation and east elevation exploded view, proposed construction.

Graphic by Evan Speer, July 2016

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Char Narayana Temple Structural Repair and Retrofit Concept Matthias eckh, August 2015 Existing condition The Char Narayana Temple completely collapsed during the earthquake on April 25, 2015. Many precious historical wooden elements with intricate carvings could be salvaged in the aftermath and stored for reuse in a possible reconstruction of the building.

Proposed restoration and structural intervention · Replace the rubble infill between the foundations walls with properly laid brickwork placed in mud mortar to create a homogenous and solid foundation pad at plinth level · Install reinforced concrete ring beam above existing foundations wall. Create orthogonal grid of beams between inner and outer core. Ensure state of the art concrete work and curing for high quality and durability · Anchor the base stones tightly into the ring beam system

· Use square stainless steel dowels to connects wooden pillars into the base stones

· At the first floor level, a wooden diaphragm made of

two layers of waterproof plywood panels will be installed create a rigid floor plane at this level. This will couple the outer masonry core to the inner one and prevent differential movement within the event of an earthquake · At the upper end of the outer masonry core, a wooden horizontal truss will be installed to tie the cores together at this elevation · All roof structures will be reconstructed with one layer of plywood panels on top on one layer of traditional sal wood planking · Connections between the wooden struts and the strut rails shall be strengthened with steel straps on the rear side

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Chār Nārāya a Temple: Structural repair and retrofitting concept. All given sizes are indicative only (drawing based on Wolfgang Korn, 1976).

Matthias Beckh, August 2015

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Char Narayana Temple: Structural repair and retrofitting concept. All given sizes are indicative only (drawing based on Wolfgang Korn, 1976).

Matthias Beckh, August 2015

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Top Cārnārāya a Temple Southern portal, scale 1:10.

Sketch (of northern portal) by Bijay Basukala, June 2015.

The southern portal was partially destroyed by the earthquake; all missing parts that are replaced by new carvings are shown in black.

May 2016

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Cārnārāya a Temple Eastern portal, scale 1:10.

Sketch (of northern portal) by Bijay Basukala, June 2015

The eastern portal was partially destroyed by the earthquake; all missing parts that are replaced by new carvings are shown in black May 2016.

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Cārnārāya a Temple Repair / restoration of the southern portal.

Top Left Master Carpenter Tirtha Ram and Rohit Ranjitkar discuss the extent of replecements.

Top Right Replication of part of the cornice above the principal doorway.

ottom Left Replacement of parts of the outer stepped frame (Shyam Prasad Shilpakar at work).

ottom Right Replacement of tertiary jamb of the doorway to the left (Shyam Prasad Shilpakar at work).

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, May 5 and 13, 2016

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Char Narayana Temple Repair / restoration of the southern portal.

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, May 17, 24, 30 and June 1, 2016

Top Left Repair of the bottom of the jamb of the side doorway (Shyam Prasad Shilpakar at work).

Top Right and ottom Photos Replacement of the bottom end (with vase motif) of a primary jamb (Hari Prasad Shilpakar at work).

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Char Narayana Temple Repair / restoration of the southern portal.

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, May 24, 26 and June 5 and 8, 2016

Top Left Replacement of the threshold of the principal doorway.

ottom Right Partial replacement of the lower part of the cusped arch of the doorway to the left.

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Char Narayana Temple Southern portal Photographs by Raju Roka, June 16 and July 5, 2016

Top Repair / restoration of the stepped outer frame (purĂ tva) above the lintel.

ottom Left Fixing the stepped outer frame to the lintel to frame the left lintel end with its carved surface.

ottom Right Repairing the stepped outer frame beside the left jamb.

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Char Narayana Temple The southern portal in a partly disassembled state for identification of damaged parts for repair. Repair work on the southern portal will be completed by mid-October.

Photograph by Niels Gutschow, September 12, 2016

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Char Narayan Temple The broken parts of the tympanum (toraᚇa) of the southern portal are being assembled and screwed together by Tirtha Ram Shilpakar.

Photograph by Bijay Basukala, September 12, 2016

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Char Narayana Temple Hari Prasad Shilpakar carves the replacement of an arch of the southern portal.

Photographs Bijay Basukala, September 12, 2016

Following Pages The western portal had been assembled at the workshop on 11 September to start repair / restoration.

Photograph September 12, 2016

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Cārnārāya a Temple Conciliatory ritual (kṣemapūjā) by Mohan Maya Jha (in blue sari) to allow construction to begin.

Photographs Katharina Weiler, September 10, 2016

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Harishankara Temple (Hariśaᚅkara)

January - August 2016 Replicating two pillars of the ambulatory, repairing / restoring the remaining 18 pillars, repairing the 20 molded plates on top of the pillars, one beam, the 24 colonnettes, the southern and eastern doorways, repairing two of the 20 tympana, and the stepped cornices of all three levels (Niels Gutschow and Raju Roka)

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Harishankara Temple Niels Gutschow and Raju Roka Historical Significance The Harishankara temple was consecrated in 1706. An early 19th century chronicle mentions King Yoganarendra Malla's daughter Rudramati as the principal donor, but Adalbert Gail suggests on the basis of numismatic evidence, that it was his daughter Yogamati, who acted as the regent after the king's death in November 1705. ollowing the construction of the early Char Narayana and Narasimha temples in 1565 and 1589, the great achievements by Siddhinarasimha Malla who initiated the building of the Vishveshvara and Krishna temples in 1627 and 1937, the himsen temples at the northern end of the square and another Vishveshvara temple (known as haidegah) in 1680 and 1678 punctuated the square, leaving ample space in front of the Keshav Narayan Cok, with a pillar bearing oganarendra put up in 1693 in front of the imposing Degutale temple. ogamati not only added the Harishankara temple, but also an octagonal Krishna temple in stone in 1723. With three roofs and raised on a three-stepped plinth, Harishankara was only slightly smaller than the Krishna and himsen temples. In many details it was designed along the standards set by the Vishveshvara temple, which was the first temple of its style - based on a sanctum with an outer ambulatory and colonnettes placed in front of the 20 pillars of the ambulatory.

While Patan kings took the lead in the first half of the 17th century in presenting previously unknown temple types, Kathmandu followed in the second half of the 17th century, and haktapur at the end of the 17th and early 18th century. Obviously, ogamati had not the resources to compete with haktapur's five-tiered Nyatapvala temple which was just completed when her father died.

The impulse to compete resulted at a kind of copy at a reduced scale.

The sanctum is thirty centimetres smaller than the Vishveshvara temple, but this small difference and the dimensions of the pillars created a new verticality, hitherto unknown in Patan.

The eight-armed cult figure represents Shiva (Shankara) on its right side, equipped with pot, rosary, hour-glass, drum and trident, and Vishnu (Hari) on his left with his most common attributes, namely lotus, discus, conch shell and club.

The pillars are highly decorated but devoid of iconographical details. The twenty tympana overarching the intercolumniations are crowned by forms of Vishnu on his mount Garuda, grasping the legs of a pair of anthropomorphized snakes. The bottom ends of the tympana are marked by Makaras, aquatic creatures spouting forth demon figures; in the centre - similar to the Vishveshvara temple - Kirtimukha with hybrid creatures (dragon and snake) or even a peacock flanked by dragons. The doorways are much simplified, with triple niches housing Ganesha, Mahalakshmi and Sarasvati on the lintel.

The extended lintels feature the eight planetary deities, starting in the east with Candra (Moon) and Surya (Sun), and continuing with hauma (Mars ) and udha (Mercury), rihaspati (Jupiter) and Shura (Venus), Shanaiscara (Saturn) and Rahu (an invisible planet). The narrowing lintel ends feature the eight auspicious signs, four on each side, beginning with the endless knot, lotus, banner, and the vase of plenty and continuing with a pair of fly whisks, a pair of fish, a ceremonial umbrella and conch shell. The quarter-round panels next to the door jambs feature the Eight Mother Goddesses, of which four were already lost in the 1970’s. They are sixarmed, placed on pairs of their mounts: Maheshvari on peacocks (east-left), Vaishnavi (south, left) on a pair of Garudas, Mahakali on a pair of corpses (north, right) and Mahalaksmi on a pair of lions (north, left). The function of these Mother Goddesses is, as Gail has pointed out, to ensure the well-being of the living beings (jagat-kalyanakarinyah, according to the Devibhagavatapurana). The

Opposite Harishankara Temple View from the south-east Photograph Stanisław Klimek, September 2008

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wall brackets feature seven male figures and one female.

Ganesha is identifiable left of the southern doorway, Kumara left of the western doorway, and Nandikeshvara, Shiva's mount. As Gail has pointed out, the iconography of this and many other temples is based on sources that are known neither to us not to local priests or scholars.

The blocks above the threshold ends represent Eight pseudo- hairavas, the fierce representations of Shiva, equipped with ten arms to act as guardians, Dvarapalas.

Niches in the ground floor walls feature the four-armed Eight Guardians of the universe (Ashtadikpala): Indra, Agni, Yama, Nairriti, Varuna, Vayu, Kubera and Ishana, on their respective mounts.

The 24 struts of the lower roof feature six- and eightarmed representations of Vishnu, Ganesha and Hanuman. Inscriptions at the bottom of these struts explain scenes that propagate papdharma, meaning it explains what happens to evil doers in hell. or example, those who commit adultery will be fried in oil and those who visit prostitutes will end up in the Krakasana hell. The sixteen struts of the second roof and the eight of the third roof feature representations of Shiva.

Summary: The Harishankara temple does not mark the end of the building activities of Patan's Darbar Square but highlights the impulse to compete with the neighbouring kingdoms by installing a miniature version of a triple-tiered temple on a triple stepped plinth (294 cms to the base of the pillars). The carving is not comparable with the high standard of its prototype from 1627, and the iconographical programme replicates the prototype.

Sources: Albert Gail, Tempel in Nepal, Vol. I, Graz 198 , pp. 61, 7 -77 and pl.

I - LIII Carl Pruscha, Kathmandu Valley. The Preservation of Physical Environment and Cultural Heritage. A Protective Inventory, Vienna, 1975. Vol. II, p. 163.

Mary Slusser, Nepal Mandala, Princeton University Press, 1982, p. 203.

State of repair The temple collapsed in total on 25 April 2015. The thresholds of the sanctum are still in place, albeit damaged. Hundreds of wooden fragments were salvaged, and first stored in the Keshav Narayan Chowk. In June 2015, a storage shack was constructed to store all the fragments which belong to the Harishankara temple.

The pillars survived in full length; the tenons, however, are broken. The doorways are also intact. Seven of the 20 colonnettes and the tympana which they had been supporting are broken. Most of the struts and 12 corner struts survived in full length. The same is true for the 20 symbolic windows of the first, second and third levels. Only minor damage occurred. The entire inner frames of the doorways and the secondary lintels of doors and windows cannot be retrieved from the large heap of fragments because they are not carved.

Available documents The earliest document showing the Harishankara temple is a watercolour drawing by Henry Ambrose Oldfield, made ca. 1855. Oldfield was the physician at the ritish Residency who produced an early view of the square, which is valid till today. The earliest photographic evidence dates to February 1885, when the French traveller and psychologist Gustave Le on photographed the ground floor arcade, covering three intercolumniations.

Transformed into a wood engraving, the image was published in the French magazine La Tour du Monde in Paris in 1886 and in the same year in the German magazine Globus. In December 1898, the German traveller Kurt ck visited Patan. The photograph showing the Harishankara in the centre was published a couple of times in Germany after 1903. Also worth mentioning is a photograph by the firm Herzog Higgins in 1902, which shows the stepped plinth and the pillared ambulatory.

Opposite Harishankara Temple View from the northeast, the day after the earthquake.

Photograph Rohit Ranjitkar, April 26, 2015

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The first site plan of the square that documents the plan of the temple was made by Eduard Sekler and his students from Harvard University in 1979. Sekler had been familiar with Nepal since 1962, and in 1977 had edited and published the Conservation Master Plan for the Kathmandu Valley. Neither the site plan nor the panorama elevation of the square looking west can be used for the plans, sections and elevations needed for the rebuilding of the temple.

Adalbert Gail published the cult idol in 1982, and the four remaining quarter-round panels and three wall brackets in his first volume on Nepalese temples. More important, he drew our attention to the bottom ends of the 24 struts (including the corner struts) that support the lower roof. With the help of two eminent scholars of Newar language, Siegfried Lienhard and Thakur Lal Manandhar, he translated the inscriptions. The carved scenes above illustrate what happens in hell to those who do not follow the Dharma.

Planning In the absence of any measured drawings, Wolfgang Korn initiated the survey of the plinth and the ground plan in October 2015 with the help of two Nepalese architects, Sabina Tandukar and Padma Maharjan. ijay asukala completed a simplified section drawing based on measurements of the salvaged fragments, scale 1:20, in November. On the basis of these drawings quantities were calculated as the basis of the cost estimate.

Rebuilding Seismic strengthening will probably require a reinforced concrete slab below the sanctum; the jambs of the doorways and the pillars of the inner corners will be tied to that foundation by stainless steel pins. All these points will be part of a controversal debate for the coming six months. Seismic issues are, at present, not discussed rationally but under the impression of the 25 April earth148

quake. It is not well understood by the institutional partners that the point is not to change the foundations because to our findings they performed well. It is rather the connectivity of the upper structure to the plinths and the foundation we are concerned about. With the Harishankara temple it is evident that the building collapsed because the base stones of the outer ambulatory as well as the tenons of the pillars failed first, bringing it down. irst, the triple stepped plinth has to be studied before final decisions can be taken. or this a team of archaeologists from the Department of Archaeology will have to join to dig a few critical areas up. Discussions with Dr. Purusottam Dangol, who completed a PhD in structural engineering, are ongoing to prepare future interventions. The uncertainty about future interventions presents a big variable for the cost estimate. We have chosen the middle path between a minimum and maximum of seismic interventions.

The base stones below the pillars of the outer ambulatory had been in a bad state of repair already before the earthquake; sloppy repairs and the introduction of cement and flat stone pavement in 1975 contributed to the gradual deterioration. Seven of the intermediate carved stone elements have been replaced, bare of any carving. This entire level has to be reset, and uncarved elements and at least six base stones have to be replaced.

Of the stone thresholds of the doorways, one has to be replaced, the remaining three repaired.

A preliminary survey of the damage inflicted by the earthquake reveals a stunning capacity of all elements to be reused without major interventions. This does notmake the reconstruction easy but it facilitates the entire working process, beginning with the planning, that is the reconstruction of a detailed section drawing as the basis for any work.

All rafters will have to be replicated in their original dimensions and spacing. Interventions of the second half of the 20th century have deviated from the original di-

mensions and techniques in order to save money. The rebuilding of the temple aims at the regaining of the original, 18th-century design.

Niels Gutschow, December 2015

Harishankara Temple The pinnacles (gÄ ju) of the Char Narayana (left) and Harishankara (right) were salvaged from the ruins and stored at the Keshav Narayan Chowk with the help of the Army.

Photograph Rohit Ranjitkar, April 29, 2015

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Harishankara Temple View from the northeast Photograph Niels Gutschow, September 21, 2009

Opposite Detail of the cornice above the arcaded ambulatory. The central myrobalan fruit motif (Ä malaka) is slightly anthropomorphized by an incision of eyes and eyebrows.

Photograph Katharina Weiler, April 8, 2016

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Harishankara Temple Section drawing east-west Survey by Bijay Basukala, November 2015

Opposite Harishankara Temple, Ground level plan Measured drawing, October 2015 Survey by Sabina Tandukar and Padma Maharjan

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Harishankara Temple A hybrid deity, the ten-armed Vishnu, identifiable by his crown, with the attributes of hairava, and in the aggressive posture of hairava and carried by the mounts of hairava, occupies the blocks (dyakva) on both sides of the door jambs above the threshold.

Adalbert Gail (1984) called these guardian figures pseudo- hairavas in order to overcome the obvious discrepancy which may reflect the fusion of Vishnu and Shiva in Harishankara. Usually, the cult figure is divided vertically; in this case the division is horizontal.

Photographs Indra Shilpakar, April 2014

Top Eastern doorway, from right to left: Vishnu / Krodha hairava on a pair of Garudas and Vishnu / Asitanga hairava on a pair of lions.

ottom Southern doorway, from right to left: Vishnu / Samhara hairava on a pair of Vetala and Vishnu / Ruru hairava on a pair of dogs.

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Harishankara Temple A hybrid deity, the ten-armed Vishnu, identifiable by his crown, with the attributes of hairava, in the aggressive posture of hairava and carried by the mounts of hairava, occupies the blocks (dyakva) on both sides of the door jambs above the threshold.

Photographs Indra Shilpakar, April 2014

Top Western doorway, from right to left: Vishnu / Kapala hairava (lost in the early 1970’s) presumably on a pair of deer, and Vishnu / Unmatta hairava on a pair of snakes.

ottom Northern doorway, from right to left: Vishnu / Krodha hairava on a pair of Garuda, and Vishnu / hisana hairava on a pair of horses.

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Harishankara Temple The Eight Mother Goddesses (Ashtamatrika) guard the doorways on quarter round panels below the lintel. The deities are placed on a lotus throne; a devotee stands on a lotus throne at the outer side in the gesture of adoration.

Photographs Indra Shilpakar, April 2014

Top Eastern doorway, from right to left: rahmayani on a pair of geese and Maheshvari on a pair of bulls (lost in the early 1970’s).

ottom Southern doorway, from right to left: Kaumari on a pair of peacocks and hadrakali (Vaishnavi) on a pair of Garudas (lost in the early 1970’s).

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Harishankara Temple The Eight Mother Goddesses (Ashtamatrika) guard the doorways on quarter round panels below the lintel. The deities are placed on a lotus throne; a devotee stands on a lotus throne at the outer side in the gesture of adoration.

Photographs Indra Shilpakar, April 2014

Top Western doorway, from right to left: Varahi on a pair of bulls (lost in the 1970’s) and Indrayani on a pair of elephants (lost in the 1970’s).

ottom Northern doorway, from right to left: Mahakali on a pair of corpses and the attendant figure mirroring Mahakali's emaciated appearance, and Mahalakshmi on a pair of lions.

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Harishankara Temple Architectural and decorative fragments salvaged from four collapsed temples and platforms and kept in immediate safety at the Keshav Narayan Chowk.

Photograph Rohit Ranjitkar, April 29, 2015

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Harishankara Temple Carpenters from haktapur, engaged by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust, assemble fragments of a window from the level above the sanctum.

Photograph Raju Roka, July 7, 2015

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Opposite Some 300 (of the original 314) stylized beam ends (dhalinkva) which form part of the cornice above the ground floor have been salvaged from the collapsed temple. It will be impossible to determine their original locations.

Harishankara Temple Fragments of the temple stored in temporary store rooms, set up on the initiative of the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust in June 2015 behind the palace, within the former Archaeological Garden.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, October 6, 2015

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Harishankara Temple The remainder of the stepped plinth of the temple.

Photographs Niels Gutschow, November 18 and 23 November 2015

Top View from the northwest across the threshold level of the sanctum.

ottom The plinth, fenced in preliminarily upon an initiative of the municipality.

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Harishankara Temple Details of the stones bearing the pillars of the ambulatory and their forward standing colonnettes, and the carved blocks of the intercolumniations featuring wisdom bearers. The details reveal a variety of inappropriate recent repairs which contributed considerably to the collapse of the temple.

Photographs Niels Gutschow, November 23 and 30, 2015

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Harishankara Temple The process of repair, restoration and replacement Procedure Following an application submitted in June 2015, the Gerda Henkel oundation decided in August to fund the rebuilding of the Laykuphalca in haktapur. In order to concentrate on a single World Heritage Site, the Patan Darbar Square, this seed contribution was redirected towards the rebuilding of the Harishankara temple on that square in December. In mid-April 2016 the Foundation decided to fund the rebuilding of the temple on the basis of a detailed cost estimate that came up to ca. 0.000 Euros. The project is expected to be completed in Spring 2019.

In the first week of January 2016, two carpenters started to replicate two of the twenty pillars of the ambulatory which were damaged beyond repair and to assess the damage inflicted on the top ends of the remaining 18 pillars and the four corner pillars of the sanctum.

Conservation approach We understand that the temple, dated to 1706, survived the earthquakes of 1809, 1833 and 193 largely intact.

This assumption is based on the fact that all pillars, cornices, doorways and tympana originate from the period of the original construction. Not the slightest repairs or replacement can be observed similar to the damage inflicted upon the temple's wooden components in the 2015 earthquake.

The ultimate aim is to restore the temple to its 1706 configuration. This necessitates countless major as well as minor repairs to restore the individual members to their original configuration. To date only two of the pillars and the lintel of the southern doorway have had to be replaced. In all cases, decorative elements were copied in analogy to preserved pattern on similar architectural 164

components. This procedure is also followed on the 20 tympana, on which missing parts of foliage or of hybrid creatures can be replicated following examples on the same or a similar tympanum. Loose parts are being fixed with the use of bamboo pegs.

The overall guiding principle is to preserve as much of the original / historic fabric as possible. We are fully aware of the fact that this approach is alien to the traditional / local practice of Newar craftsmanship. In earlier centuries the challenge would have been to replace the entire building destroyed by an earthquake, or to replace broken parts such as an entire doorway. The practice established by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust reflects a global attitude which in the 21st century aims at preserving historic evidence at any cost . The outcome is a hybrid mixture of types of repairs which on the Harishankara temple for the first time has introduced galvanized nuts and bolts to tie preserved elements to new timber. We understand this antiquarian approach as a tribute to the unique accomplishments of an endangered architectural tradition.

We are leaving the well-accepted track of repair, restoration and replacement when it comes to the recreation of lost iconographic details. our quarter-round panels and one threshold block were lost already before the earthquake, probably in the early 1970s. Although the general configuration and many decorative details and moldings can be recreated based on the preserved examples, the faces and the presentation of the mounts of the deities were carved without any evidence at hand. The usual discourse rules out such conjectural replacements, but the practice of the Newar carpenters and their specific cultural background require the completion of the iconographical programme in order to return the restored temple's dignity.

round oor The pillars Two of the 20 pillars of the ambulatory had to be replaced as they were damaged lengthwise beyond repair.

Of one more pillar the lower half was reused. Of the remaining 17 pillars, the top part had to be replaced in a variety of ways. The earthquake shocks made the bottom tenons simply slip from their supporting stone blocks, while the long tenons on top caused the breaking away of the molded top of the pillars. The original location of the pillars cannot be ascertained. This work was completed in July 2016.

The colonnettes Of the 2 colonnettes, 13 were broken, three needed minor repairs, and seven are preserved - even the comparatively short tenons at the top and bottom are preserved.

The original location of the colonnettes canot be ascertained. Repairs will be completed by early November.

The plates The plate on top of each of the 20 pillars was torn apart by the twisting of the pillar's long tenon. The tearing apart of the four constituting parts of the plates did only little damage to the stepped kulan cornice. The repair followed the original technique of joining the constitutive parts with bamboo pegs. The original location of the plates cannot be ascentained. All plates were repaired by mid-September 2016.

The tympana Of the twenty tympana five are fully preserved, two are severely damaged and 13 show minor damage. Of the latter 15 tympana, the top including the head of Vishnu-Narayana and the crowning umbrella could not be found in the debris of the collapsed temple.

The 16 full and 8 half medallions featuring the sun-bird Garuda and a mirror, which frame the 20 tympana, are fully preserved. The four corner pieces feature Vishnu

on Garuda; only one of these is damaged. The original location of the tympana cannot be ascertained. All tympana will be repaired by February 2017; the work will be done by Pushpa Shilpakar, who since June has been fully devoted to this kind of repair.

The beams Of the four beams (nina) supported by the pillars, two were preserved but the end of one of these had been severely affected by termites. Half of this end is being replaced - an intervention that also requires the re-carving of the lotus frieze at the top of the beam. Two beams are slightly cracked. These will not be replaced but strengthened with galvanized steel plates. This work will be complete in November.

The cornices Of the five constitutive elements of the stepped cornice above the pillars, all levels were broken on all four sides.

This caused replacements in a range of 10 to 2 0 cm.

The eight projecting ends of the dentilled level in the shape of a hand all broke away. Seven of these had to be replaced while one could be repaired. This work was completed in May 2016.

The cornices on the inner side of the pillars - within the ambulatory - were broken and needed replacements of 30 to 150 cm length. The three constituent parts of the cornice above the wall of the sanctum (lotus foliage, stylized beams ends and snake body) were broken on all four sides, making replacements necessary covering 10 to 100 cm.

The three constituent parts of the cornice above the doorways were also broken on all sides, needing replacements.

Work on all four cornices on ground floor level was completed by May 2016.

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The aedicules The eight aedicules, niches with a stepped pediment housing the eight guardians of the universe (aṣṭadikpāla), are well preserved.

The doorways The southern and eastern doorways required extensive repairs while the northern and western doorways exhibit only minor damage. The guiding rule was to retain as much of the original fabric as possible. The southern door required much care as the lintel was broken, with damage beyond repair. The carved surfaces above the door opening and on the extended lintel ends were removed from the old lintel to a depth of some five cm and joined to the new lintel using bamboo pegs. At all four doors, the lower parts of the Eight Planets (aṣṭagraha) on the lintel ends have broken away. Only one of these was found in the debris. The others will have to be replaced and recarved. Structural damages required replacements including the introduction of galvanized nuts and bolts: at the eastern doorway eight, and at the southern doorway four.

As of mid-September, the southern and eastern doorways are almost completed. The repair of the northern and western doorways is in progress. All doorways will be completed by December 2016.

The corner pillars of the sanctum The four corner pillars had their bottom tenons preserved while the breakaway of the tenon at the top caused loss of fabric on all four pillars. Replacement work was completed in April 2016.

The inner frame of the doorways Work on the four inner frames will start in November 2016.

The door leaves No trace of the latticed door leaves survives. Replacements will be made in November 2016.

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The inner threshold of the four doorways The southern and western thresholds are broken; the remaining two need minor repairs. This damage has not yet been assessed in cooperation with stone masons. Replacements will be used until March 2017.

Of the 20 base stones of the pillars of the ambulatory, featuring a lion bust, two will have to be replaced and seven are in need of repair. Of the 20 carved stones of the intercolumniations, six will have to be replaced, and the remaining ones repaired. The work will be complete in March 2016.

Summary Most of the woodwork will be completed in November 2016, and the stone work will be complete in March. ased on these assumptions, the ground floor will be in place in early May 2017, provided the foundation of reinforced concrete is installed in March 2017.

First Level Twelve windows need minor repairs. One of 28 struts is broken but can be repaired. The entire level will be in place by the end of 2017.

Second level Four windows, eight aedicules (niches) and 20 struts need minor repairs.

Third Level Four windows, eight miniature aedicules and 12 struts need minor repair.

Other For the three eaves, 292 eaves bells will have to be procured.

60,000 roof tiles from demolition sites in were procured in May 2016.

haktapur

Some 2500 veneer bricks have been selected from the ruins. This will be enough for the wall of the sanctum. or the three upper levels, 1 .000 veneer bricks (dāciāpa) and 25,000 regular bricks (māapa) will be ordered in October 2016.

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Construction of workshop in the palace gardens January 29, 2016

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Harishankara Temple Replication of one of the twenty pillars of the ground floor ambulatory. y April 2016, the two pillars that had been damaged beyond repair were replaced.

Photograph Biay Basukala, January 3, 3016

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Harishankara Temple Repairing the four layers of the cornice above ground floor. ottom left: replicating the projecting hands (lhakay), which very much characterize the corners of cornices in Newar architecture. Seven of the eight hands were damaged beyond repair.

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, April 22, 25 and 27, 2016

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Top Left Cleaning the secondary jambs of a doorway.

Top Right Cleaning a block featuring a hybrid Vishnu.

ottom Repairing the beam above the pillars of the ambulatory (Tirtha Ram and Sundar at work).

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, May 5 2016

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Top Left Repair of the cornice (Gopal Sundar at work) and repair of the corner of the bearing beam above the pillared ambulatory.

Top Right The replacement is connected to the old member by a galvanized steel plate (Sundar at Work)

ottom The kulan-cornice above the doorway of the sanctum (east) is being replaced.

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, May 13, 2016

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Top Left Repair of the cornice above the south doorway to the sanctum (Maca Man at work).

Top Right Repair of one of the corner pillars of the sanctum ( al Krishna at work).

ottom Repair of one of the corner pillars of the sanctum (background, Sundar at work), and replacement of one of the two pillars of the ambulatory that were damaged beyond repair (Gopal Sundar at work).

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, May 17 and 20, 2016

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Harishankara Temple Top, replicating one of the two pillars of the ambulatory that were damaged beyond repair, right the two broken pillars, revealing their outer face with its beehive pattern (hÄ chen). ottom, the lower level of the cornice with its characteristic tooth-pattern assembled on the lawn between the workshop and Mulcok, the main courtyard of the palace complex.

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, May 24 and 26, 2016

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Top Left Replication of two pillars which had been damaged beyond repair.

Top Right Repair of a corner pillar of the sanctum.

ottom Two cornice levels from the top of the sanctum's wall, the centre and top parts of the cornice above the beam on top of the ambulatory pillars.

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, May 29, 2016

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Top Repairing the molded plates (cvakulan) on top of the ambulatory pillars.

ottom Replacing the top of a pillar (below), following the moldings of another pillar (above) which needs just a small replacement at its top.

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, June 5 and 9, 2016

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Top Left Repair of the stepped outer frame (purÄ tva) of the western doorway.

Top Right replacement of the lintel of the southern doorway (Maca Man at work). The carved surfaces of the projecting lintel ends have been separated from the damaged lintel and will be fixed to the new lintel with bamboo pegs.

ottom Starting the repair on one of the 20 tympana (toraᚇa) that served as arches above the intercolumniation (Tirtha Ram at work). Eight battens have been nailed provisionally onto the back of the tympanum to allow him to precisely define the missing parts.

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, June 19, 21, 26 and 28, 2016

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Top Plates on top of the pillars being repaired.

ottom Repair of the topmost molding of a pillar and insertion of a new tenon which will extend through the plate and the bearing beam.

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, July 5 and 8, 2016

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Harishankara Temple Repairing the broken top parts of pillars, and repairing one of the eight blocks above the threshold featuring Vishnu as pseudohairava.

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, July 5 and 13, 2016

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Top Left Replacing missing parts of the cornice above the southern doorway.

Top Right Repairing the first of twenty tympana.

ottom Left Repairing the molded plates on top of the pillars (left)

ottom Right Repairing the top of a pillar. In the background, the almost completely repaired southern doorway, without its threshold in stone.

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, July 17, 19 and 24, 2016

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Top The surviving secondary jamb of the southern doorway is be adjusted to the replaced lintel with a miter joint before the preserved carved surface is being fixed to the lintel in three parts (above the door opening and on the projecting lintel ends).

ottom At one of the 20 tympana the top of the anthropomorphized snake king (nāgarāja) is being restored along with the attendant deity next to it (left), and replacement of the circular middle part of one of the colonnettes (toraṇthān) (right).

Thirteen of the 24 colonnettes are broken; 11 need minor repairs.

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, June 12, 2016

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Top Left The southern doorway, almost completely restored.

Top Right and ottom Photos Repair of the top parts of the pillars. None of the 20 pillars survived the earthquake undamaged.

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, July 10 and 13, 2016

182

Top Replacement of the circular middle part of a colonnette.

ottom Repair of one of the 20 tympana. roken parts are being fixed to the tympanum with bamboo pegs (right).

Photographs Anil and Bijay Basukala, August 15, 2016

183

Eastern doorway, details of replacement of carvings on the primary jamb; right: on the lintel end the lower part of the representation of S rya has broken away and awaits recarving.

Photograph Bijay Basukala, September 9, 2016

184

Top Eastern doorway, details of the replacement of carvings on the upper end of the jambs; bolts are concealed by a circular, fully carved inlay.

ottom Left Replacement of the bottom of the colonnette of the left side.

ottom Right Introduction of two subsidiary tenon in order to save us much of the original material as possible.

Photograph Bijay Basukala, September 9, 2016

185

Eastern doorway, top, details of the four constitutive elements (primary jamb, quarter round element, secondary jamb and stepped outer frame) of a doorway from the back, indicating to what extent the frontal elements are preserved.

Photographs Bijay Basukala, September 9, 2016

186

Indra Kaji Shilpakar from haktapur replicates four of the Eight Mother Goddesses (aṣṭamātṛkā) which protect the doorways at the upper end of the doorway. our of these were lost in the early 1970s.

Indra Kaji first took measurements at the temple, studied repetitive elements such as the lotus throne, the attendant devotee figure, the crown, earrings, flower garland and dress. ased on this he made a drawing, glued it on top of the wood and recreated the required six-armed Matrika whose upper hands wield sword and shield, and whose lower right hand is based on the existing examples. The remaining attributes and the mounts follow a well-known formula.

Top Left Maheshvari on a pair of bulls.

Top Right Indra Kaji Shilpakar working on Varahi on a pair of buffalos

ottom Left ase drawing for Maheshvari

ottom Right Indrayani on a pair of elephants.

Photographs Bijay Basukala, June 12 and 16, 2016

187

The west-south quarter round panel (dyaḼkva) beside the jamb featuring VÄ rÄ hi, the protective Mother Goddess presiding over the western direction.

Indra Kaji Shilpakar replicated this panel in analogy to the four preserved panels. The features of her face, her principal attributes and mount (a pair of bull) are familiar to him.

Photograph Bijay Basukala, September 4, 2016

188

The west-north block (bhailakva) above the threshold that should feature Vishnu in the form of KapÄ la hairava on a pair of deer (máš›ga), the guardian of the southwestern direction. In this case a misunderstanding led the carpenter to create the replica of an unknown figure, one foot resting on Garuda and one foot resting on a lotus flower, replicated and recreated in June 2016.

Photograph, June 7 and 9, 2016

189

190

The complete Harishankara pinnacle, provisionally assembled.

Repairs caused a crack. Welding in fire will cause damage to the gilding.

Photograph Katharina Weiler, August 28, 2016

Opposite Harishankara Temple In the storage shed: on the left, three of the four corner struts in the shape of a protective winged and horned leonine creature (kūnsala or śārdūla) with its paws raised.

191

Above Three coppersmiths (Tarmrakār) installing their anvils (khalu), in discussion with Niels Gutschow.

With a wide range of hammers, the shape of the five constitutive elements of the pinnacle is restored.

Photograph Katharina Weiler, August 25, 2016

elow Repair of the pinnacle (gāju), consisting of the bell-shaped bottom (ghaṇṭa), the ring of stylized fruits from the tree of immortality (āmalaka), the vase of plenty (kalaśa), and the emerging jewel (cintāmaṇi) on top.

Photograph Katharina Weiler, August 25, 2016

192

The deformations on the ring of Ä malaka are worked with a wooden mallet and a wooden peg.

Photograph Katharina Weiler, August 25, 2016

193

Left First phase of production of the large corner bricks (lhakay) placed above the wooden cornices on all three levels.

Right Storage of 60,000 roof tiles salvaged from demolition sites in haktapur.

Photographs Bijay Basukala, July 14 and June 10, 2016

194

Harishankara Temple Salvaged Architectural Fragments Twenty tympana above the ground floor cornice Four corner tympana Sixteen medallions located between the tympana Eight half medallion flanking the corner tympana Eight struts supporting the top roof Sixteen struts supporting the middle roof (documentation incomplete) Twenty-four struts supporting the lowest roof

195

Four of the 20 tympana (toraṇa) above the arcaded ground floor ambulatory.

Common to all tympana is Vishnu, seated on a throne against a mandorla, bearing his most common attributes (conch shell, lotus club and discus) in a variety of sequences. The throne is carried by Garuda, whose winged arms are raised, while his talons clutch the legs of a pair of anthropomorphized snakes (nāga /nāgin ). Vishnu is crowned by a triple ceremonial umbrella with a jewel on top; Garuda is framed by a pair of female deities in medallions.

196

A pair of Makara guards the bottom ends of the trefoil arch, their tails ending in a coiled lotus foliage. They are guarded by birdmen or wisdom bearers. In the center of the arch appears an auspicious guardian figure such as the face of K rtimukha (11 times), a peacock, an airborne musician or a supporting spirit.

This scene is framed by pairs of dragons.

Photographs by Ashesh Rajbansh, August 4, 2016

Four of the 20 tympana (toraṇa) above the arcaded ground floor ambulatory.

Common to all tympana is Vishnu, seated on a throne against a mandorla, bearing his most common attributes (conch shell, lotus club and discus) in various arrangements. The throne is carried by Garuda, whose winged arms are raised, while his talons clutch the legs of a pair of anthropomorphized snakes (nāga / nāgin ). Vishnu is crowned by a triple ceremonial umbrella with a jewel on top; Garuda is framed by a pair of female deities in medallions.

A pair of Makara guards the bottom ends of the trefoil arch, their tails ending in a coiled lotus foliage. They are guarded by birdmen or wisdom bearers. In the center of the arch appears an auspicious guardian figure such as the face of K rtimukha (11 times), a peacock, an airborne musician or a supporting spirit.

This scene is framed by pairs of dragons.

Photographs by Ashesh Rajbansh, August 4, 2016

197

Four of the 20 tympana (toraṇa) above the arcaded ground floor ambulatory.

Common to all tympana is Vishnu, seated on a throne against a mandorla, bearing his most common attributes (conch shell, lotus club and discus) in various arrangements. The throne is carried by Garuda, whose winged arms are raised, while his talons clutch the legs of a pair of anthropomorphized snakes (nāga / nāgin ). Vishnu is crowned by a triple ceremonial umbrella with a jewel on top; Garuda is framed by a pair of female deities in medallions.

198

A pair of Makara guards the bottom ends of the trefoil arch, their tails ending in a coiled lotus foliage. They are guarded by birdmen or wisdom bearers. In the center of the arch appears an auspicious guardian figure such as the face of K rtimukha (11 times), a peacock, an airborne musician or a supporting spirit.

This scene is framed by pairs of dragons, and in one case (upper right) a pair of horses.

Photographs by Ashesh Rajbansh, August 4, 2016

Four of the 20 tympana (toraṇa) above the arcaded ground floor ambulatory.

Common to all tympana is Vishnu, seated on a throne against a mandorla, bearing his most common attributes (conch shell, lotus club and discus) in various arrangements. The throne is carried by Garuda, whose winged arms are raised, while his talons clutch the legs of a pair of anthropomorphized snakes (nāga / nāgin ). Vishnu is crowned by a triple ceremonial umbrella with a jewel on top; Garuda is framed by a pair of female deities in medallions.

A pair of Makara guards the bottom ends of the trefoil arch, their tails ending in a coiled lotus foliage. They are guarded by birdmen or wisdom bearers. In the center of the arch appears an auspicious guardian figure such as the face of K rtimukha (11 times), a peacock, an airborne musician or a supporting spirit.

This scene is framed by pairs of dragons.

Photographs by Ashesh Rajbansh, August 4, 2016

199

Four of the 20 tympana (toraṇa) above the arcaded ground floor ambulatory.

Common to all tympana is Vishnu, seated on a throne against a mandorla, bearing his most common attributes (conch shell, lotus club and discus) in various arrangements. The throne is carried by Garuda, whose winged arms are raised, while his talons clutch the legs of a pair of anthropomorphized snakes (nāga / nāgin ). Vishnu is crowned by a triple ceremonial umbrella with a jewel on top; Garuda is framed by a pair of female deities in medallions.

200

A pair of Makara guards the bottom ends of the trefoil arch, their tails ending in a coiled lotus foliage. They are guarded by birdmen or wisdom bearers. In the center of the arch appears an auspicious guardian figure such as the face of K rtimukha (11 times), a peacock, an airborne musician or a supporting spirit.

This scene is framed by pairs of dragons.

Photographs by Ashesh Rajbansh, August 4, 2016

The four corner tympana above the arcaded ambulatory. The curved elements combine the basic elements of the wide tympana. Vishnu rides on Garuda in four different postures:

Top Left Seated on a throne.

Top Right With raised knees.

ottom Left With his feet resting on the bird's arms.

ottom Right Lost.

Garuda's talons firmly rest on the legs of the pair of anthropomorphized snakes. The U-shaped frame of the throne is guarded by a winged and horned leonine creature (sÄ rdĹŤla), while the arch is crowned

by K rtimukha. With the hands of winged arms this sky face spouts forth water in the shape of snake bodies, the bottom ends are occupied by a pair of Makara whose tails end in coils of foliage.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 4, 2016

201

Sixteen medallions featuring the kneeling Vishnu in anthropomorphic form. These medallions are placed in between the tympana and fixed to the beam with nails. The framing of the medallions with foliage, beads or flames demonstrate the carvers’ freedom to create.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 4, 2016

202

Sixteen medallions featuring the kneeling Vishnu in anthropomorphic form. These medallions are placed in between the tympana and fixed to the beam with nails. The framing of the medallions with foliage, beads or flames demonstrate the carvers’ freedom to create.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 4, 2016

203

Half medallions in the form of stylized mirrors (jv훮l훮nh훮ykan), made to frame the corner tympana. The surface of each mirror features lotus foliage or fully opened flowers. A lotus stem rises at the bottom and pierces a ring of 훮malaka fruits before opening up.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 4, 2016

204

Four of the eight struts supporting the top roof, their original locations not yet ascertained.

Four-armed representations of Vishnu in tribhaáš…ga posture on a lotus throne occupy the central portion of the struts below four strands of leaves. The bottom is occupied by four-handed representations of Harishankara against rockery motifs, that is Vishnu with his usual crown and a garland of flowers, holding the attributes of Shiva.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 30, 2016

205

Four of the eight struts supporting the top roof, their original locations not yet ascertained.

Four-armed representations of Vishnu in tribhaáš…ga posture on a lotus throne occupy the central portion of the strut below four strands of leaves. The bottom is occupied by four-handed representations of Harishankara against rockery motifs, that is Vishnu with his usual crown and a garland of flowers, holding the attributes of Shiva.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 30, 2016

206

Four of sixteen struts of the middle roof, their original locations not yet ascertained.

Six-armed representations of Vishnu in tribhaáš…ga posture on a lotus throne occupy the central portion of the struts below four strands of leaves. The bottom is occupied by four-handed representations of Harishankara against rockery motifs, that is Vishnu with his usual crown and a garland of flowers, holding the attributes of Shiva.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 30, 2016

207

Four of sixteen struts of the middle roof, their original locations not yet ascertained.

Six-armed representations of Vishnu in tribhaáš…ga posture on a lotus throne occupy the central portion of the struts below four strands of leaves. The bottom is occupied by four-handed representations of Harishankara against rockery motifs, that is Vishnu with his usual crown and a garland of flowers, holding the attributes of Shiva.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 30, 2016

208

Four of sixteen struts of the middle roof, their original locations not yet ascertained.

Six-armed representations of Vishnu in tribhaáš…ga posture on a lotus throne occupy the central portion of the struts below four strands of leaves. The bottom is occupied by four-handed representations of Harishankara against rockery motifs, that is Vishnu with his usual crown and a garland of flowers, holding the attributes of Shiva.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 30, 2016

209

One of sixteen struts of the middle roof, its original location not yet ascertained.

Six-armed representations of Vishnu in tribhaáš…ga posture on a lotus throne occupy the central portion of the strut below four strands of leaves. The bottom is occupied by four-handed representations of Harishankara against rockery motifs, that is Vishnu with his usual crown and a garland of flowers, holding the attributes of Shiva.

The other three struts were not photographed.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 30, 2016

210

Harishankara Temple Twenty-four struts supporting the lowest roof

All of these struts are inscribed, documenting scenes of pÄ pdharma, which illustrates what punishment will be due by Yama for unethical conduct.

The iconography is highly complex and deserves further study. Besides Ganesha and Hanuman, twenty-two representations of Vishnu can for example be identified as Lakshmi-Narayana by Garuda and a tortoise framing the lotus throne on which the figure stands.

211

Harishankara Temple Four of twenty-four struts supporting the lower roof. One- and tripleheaded representations of Vishnu reveal their aiva association by the depiction of the mounts of hairava which frame the lotus throne.

The lower registers feature scenes that demonstrate what happens to evil-doers, sinners who will face punishment (pÄ pdharma).

West, from south to north (right to left): (1) ama's messenger fries in oil one who has committed adultery, (2) Yama's messenger bans to the forest Amipatra, one who in relations with persons constantly commits the five great crimes ; (3) ama's messenger hangs the rahmin from a tree upside down who sells varnish, torches, oil, poison and ghee and beats him with a belt of leather; (4) Yama's messenger sends one who visits prostitutes to the KrÄ kasana hell.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 30, 2016

212

Harishankara Temple Four of twenty-four struts supporting the lower roof. One- and tripleheaded representations of Vishnu reveal their aiva association by the depiction of the mounts of hairava which frame the lotus throne.

The lower registers feature scenes that demonstrate what happens to evil-doers, sinners who will face punishment (pÄ pdharma).

West, from south to north (right to left): (5) ama's messenger causes bee to bite the one who has left his practiced dharma; (6) Yama's messenger causes a snake to bite the one who damages ponds, dams and the like.

Location of nos. 7 to 8 still to be ascertained Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 30, 2016

213

Harishankara Temple Four of twenty-four struts supporting the lower roof. One- and tripleheaded representations of Vishnu in some cases reveal their shaivite association by the representations of mounts which frame the lotus throne. The lower registers feature scenes that demonstrate what happens to evil-doers, sinners who will face punishment (pÄ pdharma).

Location of 9-12 still to be ascertained.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 30, 2016

214

Harishankara Temple Four of twenty-four struts supporting the lower roof. One- and tripleheaded representations of Vishnu reveal their shaivite association by the depiction of mounts which frame the lotus throne. The lower registers feature scenes that demonstrate what happens to evil-doer,s sinners who will face punishment (pÄ pdharma).

Location of nos. 13 to 16 still to be ascertained.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 30, 2016

215

Harishankara Temple Four of twenty-four struts supporting the lower roof. One- and tripleheaded representations of Vishnu reveal their shaivite association by the depiction of mounts which frame the lotus throne. The lower registers feature scenes that demonstrate what happens to evil-doers, sinners who will face punishment (pÄ pdharma).

Location of nos. 17-20 still to be ascentained.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 30, 2016

216

Harishankara Temple Four of twenty-four struts supporting the lower roof. One- and tripleheaded representations of Vishnu reveal their shaivite association by the depiction of the mounts of hairava which frame the lotus throne. The lower registers feature scenes that demonstrate what happens to evil-doers, sinners who will face punishment (pÄ pdharma).

Location of nos. 21-2 still to be ascertained.

Photographs Ashesh Rajbansh, August 30, 2016

217

Harishankara Temple First level above the sanctum, the four central windows, original locations unknown.

Photographs Katharina Weiler, April 10, 2016

218

Harishankara Temple First level above the sanctum, four of the eight blind windows flanking the central window. Only one panel with the bust of a deity is preserved. Original locations unknown.

Photographs Katharina Weiler, April 10, 2016

219

Harishankara Temple First level above the sanctum, four of the eight blind windows flanking the central window. Only one panel with the bust of a deity is preserved. Original locations unknown.

Photographs Katharina Weiler, April 10, 2016

220

Harishankara Temple Second level above the sanctum, central windows, original locations unknown.

Photographs Katharina Weiler, April 10, 2016

221

Harishankara Temple Third level above the sanctum, central windows, original locations unknown. Two cornices are lost, two inner window frames and in one case (lower right) also one bracket and the colonnettes.

Photographs Katharina Weiler, April 10, 2016

222

224

Harishankara Temple Conciliatory ritual (kṣemapūjā)

by Gurudatta Mishra to allow construction to begin.

Photographs Katharina Weiler, September 10, 2016

225

226

The Sculpture of Harishankara

Gabriela Krist, Martina Haselberger, Marija Milchin Introduction – Object Description The sculpture of the god Harishankara, a manifestation of Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Shankara)1 , was originally situated in the Harishankara Temple on Patan Durbar Square, which collapsed during the earthquake in April 2015. The temple was erected in 1706 by ogamati as memorial for her father King oganarendra Malla. The sculpture of the eponymous god is the focus of worshipping, situated in the center of the temple building and only accessible by priests. He is represented in standing position, one half representing Shiva (proper right), the other Vishnu (proper left). oth are depicted each holding four symbolic attributes in their hands. While Vishnu is accompanied by one of his wives (Lakshmi or Sarasvati) standing beside him and his mount or vehicle Garuda, Shiva is shown with his spouse (Devi or Parvati) and his mount Nandi, the bull, bottom right. All of the god’s attendants are intentionally depicted smaller to emphasize his importance. Standing on lotus blossoms whose tendrils surround them, each deity’s head is additionally encircled with a flaming halo. urthermore they are all crowned and wear different kind of jewelry2.

In 2015 the team of the Institute of Conservation was entrusted with the conservation of this valuable sculpture.

Condition y the earthquake of April 2015 the temple housing the sculpture of Harishankara collapsed completely and the object split into two pieces. Additionally, Parvati’s head, the mace of Vishnu, Garuda’s hands and a small part from the outer circle broke off.

In the course of first-aid measures undertaken by the local stakeholders and volunteers the sculpture could be recovered from the debris. Unfortunately small pieces,

with the exception of Parvati’s head, got lost. The whole surface of the sculpture was covered with layers of ritual offerings3 resulting from continuous religious worshipping in the temple over the years. The layers were especially thick in the areas of the eight hands, the faces and the encircling halo. The stone itself showed no signs of structural damage. It is a very hard and dense, weakly metamorphic material4 as described by Leiner5 which is widely used in Patan.

Aim of the Conservation The primary aim of the conservation is to re-adhere the broken pieces that were recovered from the debris in order to complete the object and to reduce the risk of further loss.

Apart from this re-assembling of the sculpture, the treatment of areas with missing parts is another issue of concern. In dialogue with all stakeholders it is agreed that the sculpture will be again re-installed for worshipping inside the Harishankara Temple when it is re-erected.

Subsequently a full reconstruction of the missing parts is required. Only in this way can the integrity and meaning of the sculpture be fully restored, which is imperative for its re-use in the religious context.

Harishankara Temple Lower part of the broken sculpture.

Photograph by Institute of Conservation, University of Applied Arts Vienna.

Conservation Treatments Re-adhering In a first step the broken sculpture was glued together.

As the crack runs diagonally, it was necessary to insert pins in order to prevent the upper part from sliding down during the gluing process. Therefore two holes were drilled vertically into the upper and lower part of the sculpture. Stainless steel pins with 10cm length and 0.8 cm in diameter were inserted and glued to both sides with hybrid mortar (Hilti H ). Additionally, dashes of epoxy resin (Akepox 2020) were applied to the fractured surface for reinforcement.

Parvati’s head was also re-adhered using the same epoxy resin applied in a small drilled hole acting as a kind of

Opposite Sculpture of Harishankara recovered from the debris after the earthquake Photograph by Suresh Man Lakhe

227

Harishankara Temple

Top right Preparation of the gluing.

Top left Drilling of holes for the pins.

ottom left Re-adhering of the two parts of the broken sculpture.

ottom right Mechanical cleaning of the surface.

Photographs by Institute of Conservation, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, August 2015

228

“epoxy pin� after hardening.

Mechanical and Chemical Removal of Deposits Deposits were reduced mechanically with spatulas and scalpels, whereby hard compacted layers were moistened to make them softer. or the further reduction of the dark soil layers different solvents including acetone, white spirit, ethanol and ammonium hydroxide were applied with brushes and cotton buds. The wide range of solvents was necessary as their effectiveness fluctuated due to the varying composition of the soil layers. In areas with high content of oily components an additional lime putty poultice was applied. Afterwards all surfaces were cleaned with water.

Pointing and Filling or the filling of losses a lime-based mortar mixed with local siliceous sands, which correspond to the optical properties of the stone, was used6. In order to adjust the mortar to the color of the stone, the stone powder gained during the drilling of the holes was collected and used as additional filler. Solely for the pointing of the very thin fissures and hairline cracks an adequate cement-based mortar7 was used in order to provide good adhesion to the surrounding stone.

All infills were executed to reach the same level as the surrounding stone, embellishment and carving.

To ensure a homogeneous appearance and to better adjust the used mortars to the original surface, the pointed joints and infills were retouched using black pigment applied in a mixture of acrylic dispersion (Primal SF016) and water (mixture 1:7).

Reconstruction of Missing Parts For the reconstruction of the missing attribute a stone similar to the original was used. Models for the mace of the god were found in the collection of the Patan Museum. A sculptor from the Institute’s team produced

the reconstruction, which was adjusted to the fractured, uneven surface without damaging the original. The attribute was then adhered to the sculpture using epoxy resin (Akepox 2020).

Conclusion In 2015 it was possible to restore the sculpture of Harishankara to a satisfactory level. The former crack is hardly visible due to the exact gluing and color matching of the filling mortar. Also the mortar infills and stone indent integrate. The dark layer of offering deposits and dirt was massively / to a large extent reduced and the surface is now homogenous and unified. The reconstruction of missing sculptural details, including the attribute of Vishnu, not only completes the figural composition but also improves legibility, so that the restored sculpture can again serve for worshipping.

End notes 1 Wiesner 1976 (1992): 126-127.

2 Patan Museum Guide 2013: 66ff.

3 Usually these offerings consist of food (rice, butter, etc.), oily substances and Tikka-paste (paste of red or yellow pigment).

4 The material contains a high concentration of silicates in foliations surrounded by a very fine grained siliceous marble.

5 Leiner 2010.

6 Infill mortar: 2 vol. parts slaked lime 1 vol. part grey cement vol. parts unsifted sand 2 vol. parts stone powder to vol. parts black pigment, mixed with water.

7 Pointing mortar: 1 vol. part grey cement, vol. parts stone powder vol. part black pigment, mixed with water.

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Harishankara Temple Reconstruction of the missing attribute with a stone indent.

Photograph by Institute of Conservation, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, August 2015

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Harishankara Temple Sculpture of Harishankara after the conservation.

Photograph by Institute of Conservation, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, August 2015

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Bibliography Leiner 2010: Leiner, S., Der Pavillion am handarkhal Tank, unpublished pre-thesis, Institute of Conservation, University of Applied Arts, Vienna 2010.

Wiesner 1976 (1992): Wiesner, U., Nepal. K nigreich im Himalaya, DuMont, K ln, 1976 (2. Auflage 1992).

Patan Museum Guide 2013: Patan Museum Guide, ont Traders, Patan, 2013.

232

Vishveshvara Temple, 1627 History and Description (Niels Gutschow) Documentation in photos and drawings

234

History and Description The temple was the first to be established by King Siddhinarasi ha Malla in January 1627, eight years after he had ascended to the throne of Patan in 1619 as a youth. As king of Kathmandu, his father ivasi ha had wrested Patan from the local mahāpātra rulers. He installed a li ga and dedicated it to the Lord of All, Vi ve vara or Vi vanāth. In terms of architectural design, establishing a two-tiered temple with an ambulatory of 20 pillars constituted a revolutionary act. The great royal temples, such as the ak e vara in haktapur (early 15th century), and the Caturvy ha (or Cār) Nārāya a temples at Kathmandu (1563) and Patan (1565) had followed the prototype defined by the Pa upatinātha temple with its inner ambulatory on various scales.

The new temple introduced an outer ambulatory, encircling the sanctum (garbagṛha) measuring 403 cm on one side of the square. The columned temple measures 715 cm, which is 5 cm more than the neighbouring Cār Nārāya a temple. The placement of the guardian figure, iva’s mount, the bull, marks the main access from the west. The steps leading up to the temple are guarded by a pair of lions and guardian deities, ama and Kuber.

The sanctum, however, is exclusively accessible from the east, the stairs being flanked by a pair of elephants.

The remaining two doorways contribute to the symmetrical layout, but are never opened. The elaborately carved doorways are flanked by niches occupied by the eight guardians of the universe (a adikpāla) in the upper register, and eight panels of stone featuring Ga e a and Mahālak m (west), Annap r ā and Umāmahe vara (north), Vi u and S rya (east) and hairava and a og (South). The doorway features the Eight hairavas, invariably standing on a pair of corpses at the blocks above the threshold; in the the wall brackets are eight male deities of the aiva tradition, depicted in the fashion of the ancient ālabanjika, with their legs crossed and standing in the jaws of aquatic creatures (Makara); and the quar-

ter-round panels depict the Eight Mother Goddesses (A amāt kā). The lintel ends feature the eight planetary deities (a agraha), with four unidentified four-handed deities on either side, enclosed by lotus vine. The bottom ends of the outer frames (purātva), colonnettes (tora thān), U-shaped intermediate element (nāgva ) and jambs feature guardian deities such as Sadā iva and Lak m at the jambs and snakes (Nāga / Nāgin ) at the nāgva . Durgā appears on the three visible sides of the colonnette and pairs of guardians on the outer frame an exceptional location, which can rarely be observed.

At mid-height the Eight hairavas occur again, seated and with eight arms. Pointed medallions at the side of triple roof moulding on top of the colonnettes bear deities such as Rām, Hanumān and various ascetics. In the centre of that roof moulding, female deities are placed in niches that are framed by pilasters which support tympana in miniature form Mahe var in the east, Durgā in the south, Umāmahe vara in the west and Mahākāl in the north. These shrine-like niches are supported by pairs of snakes under a fivefold snake hood. The lintel features even smaller and equally architecturally framed niches, five in the west and three in the remaining directions. The central niche of the western lintel is occupied by a four-headed Durgā, flanked by Kaumār (on peacock) and Mahālak m (on lion), Ga e a and Kumār in the outer niches. The entire configuration is guarded by a pair of birdmen (gandharva) holding banners. On the northern lintel, Durgā appears in the centre, flanked by rahmāya (on goose) and Mahālak m (on lion), the ends being guarded by a pair of dragons. On the eastern lintel the central deity is probably Taleju (on horse), flanked by Kaumār and Mahālak m , the ends being guarded by fly-whisk bearers, on the southern lintel the central deity is Mahe var (on bull), flanked by Kaumār and Mahālak m , and the ends are simply shaped with lotus scrolls.

Above Vishveshvara Temple: Pointed medallion featuring fourarmed deity, embedded in temple wall.

Opposite Vishveshvara Temple: East facade.

Photo by Stanislaw Klimek, August 31, 2015

235

Vishveshvara Temple East side, damaged ground floor.

Photos by Niels Gutschow, August 12, 2015

236

Vishveshvara Temple South side, damaged ground floor.

Photos by Niels Gutschow, August 12, 2015

237

Vishveshvara Temple West side, damaged ground floor.

Photos by Niels Gutschow, August 12, 2015

Opposite Vishveshvara Temple South side, detail of damaged corner stone.

Photos by Niels Gutschow, August 12, 2015

238

239

Vishveshvara Temple Tympana (torana). ive tympana crowning the intercolumniations on each side of the building, twenty tympana altogether.

Presented here: our of the five tympana of the South side.

Photos taken by Ashesh Rajbansh, September 3, 2016

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Vishveshvara Temple Top right: The fifth of the four tympana of the South side.

Photos taken by Ashesh Rajbansh, September 3, 2016

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Vishveshvara Temple Tympana (torana).

Photos taken by Ashesh Rajbansh, September 3, 2016

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Vishveshvara Temple Tympana (torana).

Photos taken by Ashesh Rajbansh, September 3, 2016

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Vishveshvara Temple Tympana (torana).

Photos taken by Ashesh Rajbansh, September 3, 2016

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Vishveshvara Temple Elevation south. The quarter round panel on the left was replaced in 1989; all other details date to 1627, when the temple was consecrated.

Drawing by Bijay Basukala, 2008 Source: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, Vol. II, 2011, 467

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Vishveshvara Temple – structural repair and retrofit concept.

By seismic engineer Matthias Beckh, August 2015

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Vishveshvara Temple – structural repair and retrofit concept. ( ase drawings shown are by ijay asukala.)

By seismic engineer Matthias Beckh, August 2015 Based on: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, Vol. II, 2011, 462

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“Vishveshvara Temple – structural repair and retrofit concept” by seismic engineer Matthias Beckh, August 2015 Based on: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, Vol. II, 2011, 466

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“Vishveshvara Temple – structural repair and retrofit concept” by seismic engineer Matthias Beckh, August 2015 Based on: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, Vol. II, 2011, 463

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Vishveshvara Temple Shoring concept.

By seismic engineer Evan Speer, July 2016 Based on: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, Vol. II, 2011, 463,

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Vishveshvara Temple Shoring concept.

By seismic engineer Evan Speer, July 2016 Based on: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, Vol. II, 2011, 466

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Vishveshvara Temple Shoring concept.

By seismic engineer Evan Speer Based on: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, Vol. II, 2011, 462

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Vishveshvara temple.

Scaffolding and shoring in progress.

Photo by Raju Roka, early August 2016

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Vishveshvara Temple The replacement of the Mahalakshmi panel which was lost in theft in 2011; carving by Amar Shakya, almost complete.

Photo by Bijay Basukala, June 05, 2016

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Manimaṇḍapa South The Restoration of South Manima

apa, Patan Darbār Square

An annotated on-site report, 24 March to 16 April 2016 Annex: Overview of restoration activities, April (Katharina Weiler)

June 2016

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The Restoration of South Manimaṇḍapa Patan Darbār Square An annotated on-site report, 24 March to 16 April 2016

by Katharina Weiler Introduction The following documentation of the inventory, repair, replacement and rebuilding of Patan Darbār Square’s lost temples and mandapas provides unique insight into historic construction principles and inherited craftsmanship but also inspects present-day restoration, conservation, and preservation issues. The report highlights major steps in the course of the rebuilding of the Char Narayan and Harishankara temples, in order to provide future generations of craftsmen, conservation architects, art historians and the (inter)national community with a unique testimony of the loss in the course of the 2015 earthquake, and the recycling, repair, and replacement of old or lost elements.

At the same time, the annotated report carefully presents the changes of values in Newar (re)building history in order to contextualize the project within the international debate on aspects of authenticity in architectural heritage conservation. Historic and, above all, new photographs and measured drawings from the workshops on site and construction sites at Patan Darbār Square illustrate the documentation, with a special focus on the work of the craftsmen involved in the repair and reconstruction.

History Since the early 18th century, at least, the South Manima apa and its northern counterpart, the (North) Manima apa (“Pavilion of Jewels”), marked the entrance to the steps leading to Ma gahi , the deep fountain at the northern end of the Patan palace origi-

nating in the Licchavi era (7th century).

From the beginning, the two mandapas that are located at the northern side of the Royal Palace in Patan, Keshav Narayan Chowk, were used as communal space for social gatherings, an informal trading post, and a place to prepare religious rituals and festivals.

The South Manima apa appears to be older than the Manima apa, which is dated 1701 according to an inscription. Whereas the Manima apa has served as the place for astrologers and priests to determine Newar festival dates, e.g., the auspicious moment for initiating the annual festival of the rain god Rato Matsyendranath, and as the coronation site for Patan’s kings, the South Manima apa functioned as municipal weighing house, where market prices were fixed.

A Manima apa (Nev. maḍu), exclusively a Nepalese feature of urban architecture, is an elaborate form of a public, communal arcaded platform constructed and maintained as a means of earning merit by anybody who can afford to do so. Already in the late 18th century, Capuchin monk ather Giuseppe mentioned in his account the great amount of “large square varandas, well built, for the accomodation of travellers and the public”1 in every town of the Kathmandu Valley.

The building type consists of a square (or slightly rectangular) platform protected by a roof that is supported on sixteen columns. The number of columns bestows upon the Manima apa the colloquial name “sohra ku a”,or“sixteen legged.” rom an early photograph taken by Clarence Comyn Taylor ca. 1863, we learn about the appearence of the two mandapas at Patan Darbār Square in the second half of the 19th century. They were each built on a rectangular brick plinth, measuring approximately 4 x 5 meters, equipped with wooden floorboards. In each case, a multi-layered decorative timber cornice was borne by twelve intricately carved outer wooden pillars resting on timber base beams. The hipped roofs of the one-story buildings – clad with terracotta tiles – were borne by

Opposite View of the two Manima apa , Manima apa (right) and South Manima apa (left).

Photograph taken ca. 1863 by Clarence Comyn Tayler. Description in Taylor’s List of pictures: No VIII. View from a window of the principal reception room in the Palace at Patun. Stone temple of Krishna in the back ground to the left, and temple of Mahadeo on the right. In the foreground is an enclosure with steps leading down to a “Hittee” or fountain’. This photograph is reproduced as a woodcut in James erguson’s History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, 1910, Vol 1, fig 158.

Courtesy of National Geographic Society Father Guiseppe: An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal. (...) Asia Society of Bengal, 1790, 307-322.

1

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Patan Darbār Square, looking east towards the northern wing of the palace and the two mandapas. A brick wall is built between the southern columns of South Manima apa and one western opening.

Photo by Dr. Kurt Boeck, 1890

knee walls rising above the cornices and supported by 20 ornate wooden struts.

In addition, four pillars inside the halls supported the cross beams. Carved wooden god-windows and blind windows punctuated the upper level brick masonry.

Taylor’s photo also testifies to the mandapas’ modification in the 19th century, i.e., waist-high planking between the northern columns, brick walls in two of the three eastern openings of South Manima apa, and the installaiton of planks between North Manima apa’s eastern columns. This situation lasted at least until the end of the 19th century, as documented in a photo published by Kurt oeck in 1898 in which brick walls are also visible between some western pillars. oth mandapas survived the earthquake of 193 . Two photographs taken by Mary S. Slusser in 1970 show that by that time, the plankings and brick walls had been removed. The wall that had originally surrounded the stepwell at its northern, southern, and eastern side, at some point in history had been extended in such a way that it partially enclosed the mandapas. The figurative 258

roof struts, many of which were lost between the 1970s and early 21st century, are still evident in Slusser’s photos.

The cornice of North Manima apa fell prey to some renovation activities prior to the 1970’s. On the occasion of King irendra’s coronation in ebruary 1975, minor repair was undertaken and the older timber flooring was replaced with stone slabs after the filling of the plinth with rubble. This action caused the decay of the bottom ends of the central pillars and the pairs of crossbeams. In the late 20th century, most of the struts were replaced by plain timber struts. In 2010, again, the plinth was repaired in the course of the renovation of the walls of the Ma gahi .

South Manima apa In the early 1960s, the South Manima apa was provided with a grill.

Source: Guiseppe Tucci, Rati-lila, 1969, 34.

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South Manima side.

apa, east (back)

Photo by Mary S. Slusser 1970

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South Manima apa, west side. The planking and brick walls that were installed in the 19th century have been removed. The wall that originally surrounded the stepwell at its northern, southern, and eastern sides has been extended in such a way, that it partially encloses the mandapa on the north.

Photo by Mary S. Slusser, 1970.

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Top Left ack (east) sides of North Manima apa and South Manima apa, with the Ma gahi in the foreground.

Photo by Stanisłav Klimek, September 2009

Top Right The ruins of the two Manima earthquake.

apas, immediately after the

Photo by Suresh Lakhe, April 25, 2015

ottom Right The two Manima

apa plinths, cleared of rubble.

Photo by Raju Roka, August 2015

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North Manima apa, South Manima apa, amd Ma gahi .

Ground/plinth level plan.

Source: Raimund O.A. Ritterspach: Water Conduits in the Kathmandu Valley, 1994

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Carpentry and woodcarvingA Living Heritage Unlike its southern neighbour India, Nepal has never been colonized. In India, concepts such as tradition, originality, and authenticity have figured as contested notions in a dynamic field of tension ever since the 19th century when the Archaeological Survey of India was founded by the ritish. These concepts were negotiated by colonial agents ( ritish and Indian), postcolonial Indian protagonists, and an international community of conservationists. Recently, postmodern conservation architects have begun to display an inclination to reflect on the concept of authenticity in heritage preservation by focusing on its relation to new understandings of validity based on, for example, non-physical essence and spirit (including creative re-creation and craft traditions).

As mentioned earlier, a Department of Archaeology was established in Kathmandu as early as 1953, modelled on the Archaeological Survey of India. However, Nepalese archaeologists and conservation architects have never initiated discussion on authenticity in architectural heritage conservation, nor have international experts in the field of conservation. The authenticity of workmanship and living traditions, suggested in the Nara Document on Authenticity (1994), has rarely attracted the attention of professionals in the field of conservation in Nepal, and the creative hands behind such craft traditions remain vaguely delineated. With this in mind, we should have a closer look onto the relevance of craftsmanship for the rebuilding of Patan’s architectural heritage in post-earthquake Nepal not least with a view to foregrounding the skills of carpenters and wood carvers. In our case, the living traditional knowledge systems play a major role in defining the authenticity of cultural heritage, and even in recreating what is lost.

One of the landmarks in the consultation process in the framework of the reconstruction of South Manima apa and Manima apa is the assembly of master carpenters (Nev. Silpakār) wood carvers (Nev. Kijyami) from hak-

tapur. These craftsmen from the ethnic group of Newars bring the experience and skills in defining solutions to bear on the problems of the restoration project. Retrofitting actions are based on traditional technology and historic materials, in this case Sal wood. “Intangible” aspects of conservation such as inherited craftsmanship are given special attention in the present documentation because these aspects of authenticity have received little attention in the past.

In the Kathmandu Valley, the Newar uddhist subgroup of carpenters, Hastakār (Nev. Sikarmi) – who are named Shilpakār in haktapur, still inherit their trade. In this stratified society based on caste membership, a carpenter is born as such. The majority of the craftsmen occupied with the rebuilding of the damaged architectural heritage at Patan Dārbar Square come from N sa manā, a traditional quarter with a cluster of carpenters in haktapur. They started learning their trade from their fathers or uncles as children or adolescents. They are representatives of the Sikarmi caste and take up and perpetuate an unbroken tradition. This hereditary background is instrumental in authenticating their creations. Although the term “hereditary” refers to the fixity of social function rather than expertise, all of them are highly skilled and much of the responsibility of repair and restoration falls to this small number of craftsmen. Their individual skills may depend upon the financial resources of the respective project and on whether the budget enables them to invest the time necessary to achieve the highest possible quality. The reproduction of meaningful iconographical details has to be appreciated in terms of the performance of Newar woodcarvers who are sons of the woodcarvers whose ancestors created the originals. In fact, by wishing to escape the narrow boundaries of caste and due to the average low income of a carpenter, the younger generation is often refusing to take up the traditional family trade and is yearning for better-paid jobs. Meanwhile, other skilled craftsmen have been trained in workshops where they become familiar with the craft tradition.

Opposite Top Row (from left) Machaman Shilpakar, Hari Prasad Shilpakar, Krishna Sundar Chauguthi

Middle Row(from left) al Krishna Shilpakar, Tirtha Ram Shilpakar, Pushpa Lal Shilpakar

ottom Row (from left) Prem Shilpakar, Pratap Shilpakar, Shyam Krishna Shilpakar

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Clockwise rom Above ijay asukala, site manager of the reconstruction work, making a sketch of a South Manima apa window; taking an inventory of colonnettes of Harishankara Temple with Tirtha Ram Sholpakar; giving artistic advice to Hari Prasad Shilpakar.

The power of seeing and drawing Newar architecture ijay asukala acts as a conservation architect and site manager for the South Manima apa, Harishankara temple and Charnarayana temple reconstruction works.

In 1992/93 asukala was member of an extended team that surveyed a number of temples and uddhist monasteries in Patan (Vambāhā, Jyābābah , Guitabah ) within the context of the Patan Conservation and Development Programme, funded by the German Technical Cooperation (GT ). The inventory of potential monuments in Patan was concluded in 1995 with measured drawings of the Kvābāhā and K a Mandir.

Measuring and studying an object or a built structure 266

even developed his ability to design new buildings in the Newar vocabulary, with measured drawings providing the necessary grammar. Since the early 1990s, he has designed a number of neo-Newar temples and replicas of caityas.

Since the mid-1980s ijay asukala had learned from Robert Powell to produce images of architectural details in a mixture of techniques by water colouring drawings done in ink. Later, he made pencil drawings on transparent paper in addition to line drawings in ink. Over a period of 25 years ijay asukala reached a high level that stands out in South Asia and beyond, for he has also worked in Cambodia, Mongolia and Orissa. He has developed a sense of art that goes beyond his proficiency as draughtsmen.

In autumn 2005, asukala started further surveys in order to fill in the gaps in the overview of Newar architecture from the beginning to the present time. He has contributed with his detailed drawings to numerous publications by different authors, for example Niels Gutschow (Nepalese Caitya (1997), Sulima Pagoda, together with Erich Theophile (2003) and Architecture of the Newars (2011)) and Mary S. Slusser (The Antiquity of Nepalese Wood Carving (2010)). rom 2011 to 2013 asukala documented two lithic Shikara temples on haktapur’s Darbar Square. One of these temples totally collapsed on 25 April 2015 while the second remains, however standing in a critical position ( ijay asukala, Niels Gutschow, Kishor Kayastha: Towers in Stone. ikhara Temples in haktapur Valsalā and Siddhilak m . Kathmandu: H mal Kitab) )201 ).

As site manager for the reconstruction activities that mainly include restoration and repair of historic building elements, but also replication of missing parts, ijay asukala gives advice to the craftsmen and delibeates on each working stage.

Re-creating and copying In an account on “Wood Carving In Nepal”, published in 1892 in the Journal of Indian Art, the author Surgeon R. Shore, I.M.S., then serving as the Residency Surgeon in Nepal, describes the carving process as follows: “The design of the work to be executed is sometimes drawn out on paper, but this is by no means usual. The head workman finds that the picture he carries in his own mind is sufficient for him.”2 What is mentioned here is a crucial working process of wood carving still used today. In the framework of a craftsmanship that today is labelled “intangible heritage,” or “living tradition,” the value of this design step could be characterized as the authenticity of the creative mind. This aspect becomes even more important in the course of the rebuilding of architectural heritage in Nepal after the earthquake of 2015. In this context, wood carving gains an important role for the repair and restoration of fragmented wooden architectural elements that are being recycled in an effort to maintain as much of the original material as possible, i.e., to be geared to international conservation standards.

Even though the wood carvers who work at the reconstruction site have adopted the English word “copying” into their language, neither the Newar nor Nepalese language knows such word. One could thus be misled, thinking that the practice is alien to Nepalese craftsmen, which of course, it is not. Almost all of the carving practice in the course of the rebuilding of South Manima apa is about copying. The Nepalese or Newār language does not know a word for “original,” either. In the Newar language, an equivalent for “original” may simply be “pulān”, “old”. In this logic, “copy” is “nhugu,” “new.” The Newars find various expressions for what in English would simply be translated as “copying”: “buttā kiyegu,” litteraly meaning “to carve the pattern”, or “wa soyā, thva dayekegu”/ “wa soyā, thva kiigu” (I look, I make this/carve this) or “thathe kiigu” (I carve like this), or “nakal yegu,” which could be translated as “to copy.”

In fact, “looking” and “carving” are based on age-old patterns and design that are handed down from one generation to the next, creating something new in the form of the old. In the Nepalese context, these expressions are reduced to the description of a handicraft process, free of any negative connotation such as “fake.”

Surgeon R. Shore: “Wood Carving In Nepal,” 10-12, in: Journal of Indian Art, 4:33–37 (1892, January), 11.

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Tirtha Ram Shilpakar replicating a beehive pattern (Nev. hāchẽ).

Some Notes on the Woodcarvers and Carpenters Working on the Rebuilding and Reconstruction of the Temples and Mandapas at Patan Darbār Square Patan, 5 April 2016 Tirtha Ram Shilpakar (“Kancha”), woodcarver and carpenter, age 38 Tirtha Ram Shilpakar lives in the quarter of Tekha Pukhu, haktapur, with his wife, son and daughter. He started working as a carver fifteen years ago and at some point specialized in carpentry. He learned carpentry and carving skills at Surendra Joshi’s workshop in hakatpur. In the late 1980s, Surendra Joshi was involved in the restoration project for Chyaslin Mandap in haktapur. Tirtha Ram’s elder brother, Ganga Prasad Shilpakar, works as carver, too. His father Janak Lal Shilpakar was also a wood carver and together with him, he has been working with ijaya asukala for a long time.

Hari Prasad Shilpakar, completing the first of two columns of Harishankara Temple that have to be replaced in the course of the building’s reconstruction. As he carves the beehive pattern (Nev. hāchẽ) one of the originals that survived the earthquake lies in front of the new column and serves as the model for replication.

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Hari Prasad Shilpakar, woodcarver, age 41 Hari Prasad Shilpakar lives in N sa manā, haktapur, together with his family. He learned carving at Dattatreya Wood Carving Institute. Having started carving at the age of twelve, he has been skilled in carving for almost 30 years. He has been working in the Patan workshop since December 2015. At the time of the interview he had just finished carving one of the two main outer columns of Harishankar Temple that have to be fully replaced as the originals are heavily damaged. Carving the column took him one and a half months.

Bal Krishna Shilpakar, carpenter, age: 48 Together with his family, al Krishna Shilpakar lives in the area of Dudhpati in haktapur. Carpentry has been his family trade for generations. His father, Krishna hakta Shilpakar, worked as a carpenter for the haktapur Development Project in the early 1980s. He has been working at the workshop in Patan since ebruary 2016.

At the time of the interview he was working on joining two pieces of a broken cornice of South Manima apa.

Prem Shilpakar, Woodcarver, age 32 Prem Shilpakar lives in N sa manā, haktapur with his wife and children. He has been working as a carver for sixteen years and worked as a carpenter before he learned carving at a local carving workshop. Carpentry is his family trade. At the time of the interview, his father was preparing the chariot for isket Jatra, haktapur’s extensive annual urban ritual celebrating the beginning of the New ear (Nep. Bikram Samvat). Approximately one month before the beginning of the festival, the chariot is assembled on Taumadhi Square in haktapur.

According to Prem Shilpakar, his family isused to be one of five families making the chariot but now only his family continues this tradition. His father’s brother, Ramesh Shilpakar, also works as woodcarver. Prem Shilpakar feels that the skill of carving and carpentry is not highly valued and is considered a low level work by Nepalese society. He joined the workshop under the aegis of KVPT in December 2015. At the time of the interview he was copying a window column (Nev. tval th ) of South Manima apa in order to replace the damaged original. The surviving counterpart served as the model for the new element.

al Krishna Shilpakar repairs the lotus frieze of Harishankara temple.

Prem Shilpakar, transferring the pattern of a window colonnette (Nev. tvalãthã) for South Manima apa with a pencil onto a new piece of timber.

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Left Machaman Shilpakar, restoring a window colonnette of South Manima apa.

Right Krishna Sundar Chauguthi, carving the delicate design of the lowest cornice layer with lotus flower alternating with bells pattern (Nev. palesva) for South Manima apa.

Machaman Shilpakar, woodcarver, age 44 Machaman Shilpakar lives in N sa manÄ , haktapur with his wife, son and daughter. He has been working as wood carver for 25 years. He learned the skill from his father Dhana ahadur Shilpakar. His 20-year old son, Manish Shilpakar, is following in his footsteps as a wood carver. Machaman Shilpakar has a carving workshop at home where he used to make statues, carved picture frames, and other handicrafts (like most of the carvers from haktapur) - items which were taken to China by local traders specialized in handicrafts. However, this business has not been lucrative since 2015. Six months after the earthquake, in October 2015, he joined the Patan workshop behind Mulcok. At the time of the interview he had decided on how to restore a window colonnette (Nev. tval th ) of South Manima apa that was broken just beneath the upper part: recarve the decorative upper part and undecorated shaft on the basis of the original and reuse the original kalasha design.

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Krishna Sundar Chauguthi, woodcarver Krishna Sundar Chauguthi has been working as a wood carver for 12 years. He lives in haktapur, N sa manÄ , with his family. In his case, woodcarving is not inherited, but as a member of the framer’s community, he learned carving at a local carving workshop.

In February 2016, he started working in the workshop at Mulcok. At the time of the interview he was carving the delicate design of lotus flower (Nev. palesv ) alternating with bells (Nev. gha a). This piece will replace a damaged part of the lowest layer of the cornice of South Manima apa.

Left Pushpa Lal Shilpakar carves a deity in a renewed part of pillar “MP7”.

Right Pratap Shilpakar copies a beehive pattern (Nev. hāchẽ) of a god-window of South Manima apa.

Pushpa Lal Shilpakar, woodcarver, age 37 Pushpa Lal Shilpakar lives in Tekhapukhu, haktapur, with his wife, son and daughter. Carpentry/carving has been his family trade and both his brothers (Raju Shilpakar (51), ishnu Shilpakar ( 2)) and his cousins (Punya Mangal (33) and Panch Ratna (28)) are working in this field. Pushpa Lal learned carving skill at a local woodcarving workshop. He has been working in this field for twenty-two years and thinks that the carving trade and selling carving products has been severely affected by the recent earthquake. He has been working with KVPT since October 2015.

Pratap Shilpakar, woodcarver, age 36 Pratap Shilpakar lives in the quarter of āch , haktapur, with his family. eing the only person in his family who works as carver, he has been working in this business for eighteen years. His family was involved in making wooden neckties, which was a very popular item among tourists. He said they used to get large orders of wood neckties from Europe. He joined the restoration project in Patan in March 2016. At the time of the interview, he was working on a cornice piece for South Manima apa.

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Shyam Krishna Shilpakar saws the tenon of a restored column.

Opposite Tools. Every craftsman owns his own set of tools, custom made by a smith from haktapur.

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Shyam Krishna Shilpakar, carpenter and woodcarver, age 44 Shyam Krishna Shilpakar lives in the area of Dudhpati, haktapur, with his wife, son, and daughter. He learned his carpentry and carving skills from his father and other senior members of his family. Shyam Krishna has been working in this field for thirty years. or two years he worked at the conservation project in Panauti funded by the rench government. He has his own workshop in haktapur, but started working in Patan.

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South Manima apa South elevation.

Elevations drawn in AutoCAD by Renu Maharjan, April 2016.

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South Manima apa West-East section Section hand-drawn by Bijay Basukala, April 2016.

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South Manima apa reconstruction of ground plan.

Hand-drawn by Bijay Basukala, April 2016.

Patan, March 2016 The twelve base stones (Nev. lvahÄ ) mark the ground plan and plinth of South Manima apa in ruins.

The plinth has to be reconstructed.

KVPT proposes the rebuilding with concealed steel reinforcement and a concrete slab concealed underground.

Onsite Report Plinth On April 25, 2015 both mandapas collapsed completely, leaving only their plinths in place and in poor condition.

As there were no detailed pre-earthquake plans or measurements of the North Manima apa and the South Manima apa, sections and elevations had to be reconstructed on the basis of the still-existing plinths and the surviving wooden elements. Detailed measured drawings of the existing ground plan were hand-drawn in late 2015. At the same time, elevations and a cross-section of South Manima apa were reconstructed. The data was drawn by ijay asukala and transferred into AutoCAD by architect Renu Maharjan.

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An important reason for the total collapse of the two structures in the earthquake of 2015 concerns the foundations and plinths, where the foundations and plinths were not unified and there was almost no connectivity between the timber columns and the stone blocks of the plinth supporting them. Among other things, the foundations of both mandapas need seismic retrofitting and strengthening to ensure that the sixteen pillars bearing the load of the heavy upper masonry walls and roofs are properly connected to the ground. The Trust has proposed to address this, and other seismic concerns, via a strengthened foundation and connections which can not be achieved using the original materials. This design is in accordance with international preservation norms.

While there was general permission given by the Department of Archaeology (DoA) to start work on April 5, 2016, project implementation has been delayed to date by ongoing discussions between KVPT and the DoA regarding the use of concealed concrete in the foundation as a life safety and strengthening measure. Thus while work has proceeded on the carved timber elements, the work on site remains at a standstill.

Outer Columns Immediately after the earthquake, the mandapas’ timber elements were rescued and stored inside the Royal Palace compound. In the months that followed, the Trust initiated the cleaning and assembling of some timber elements, such as the columns of South Manima apa.

Each column was carefully investigated and as much material as possible was reused.

Of the twelve outer columns, eleven suffered some damage and one was not able to be repaired. It was decided that the twelfth column (“MP 11”) had to be replicated; this assignment was given to Indra Kaji Silpakar’s workshop in haktapur. The reason for the replacement of the original column is that the latter was too weathered and had suffered severe damage when it was modified for earlier uses. ijay asukala created the design for the new column, taking various elements from the remaining columns as a model. The eleven remaining outer columns of South Manima apa were restored and repaired by the end of March 2016, with while the Trust awaited permission for construction.

It will not be possible to determine the original location of each column; however, the corner pillars are identifiable as such. The partial damage that was due to the waist-high planking between the northern columns of South Manima apa indicates the original placement of these columns.

Columns’ lower tenons The lower tenons of those columns with renewed bases will be shaped after the Trust and the Department of

Archaeology have finalized the design on the rebuilding of the plinth, which will determine their final configuration.

Columns’ upper tenons The surviving columns’ upper tenons, one for each column connecting them with the above cornice, broke on 25 April 2015. The tenons and the rest of the column used to be of one piece. As all upper tenons were broken, they needed to be replaced, each in a way that ensures stability in the rebuilding of the structure. To achieve this, either a mortise was cut into the shaft of the column and a new tenon stuck inside, or the new tenon was an integral part of a new upper end of the column.

Characteristically, a tenon is not in the center of the shaft but rather displaced for static reasons, as the columns bear the load of the cornice. With this in mind, the side of each column side which will face outward had to be chosen before renewing the tenon. In the case of columns decorated with faces of deities, it was clear that the side with the deity would face to the outside.

In a few cases the decision was difficult; for example, the replacement upper part of one column and its tenon were left temporarily as a block of wood as it was unclear how the tenon should be oriented; discussion was about which sides of the heavily weathered original shaft will have to face the outside and inside of the Manima apa.

However the column is oriented, the deity of the replaced upper part will have to face the outside.

Patan, 24 March 2016 Eleven of the twelve outer columns of South Manima apa are reusable and were restored and repaired where necessary. The upper tenons (left) had to be replaced. No decision has been made to date as to how to situate the tenon of the second column in front.

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Top left Original base of a column showing the mortise which received a tenon to connect it to the plinth.

Patan, 24 March 2016

Top right Once it has been decided how to orient a heavily weathered column, the upper tenon can be completed.

Shree Shyam Krishna Silpakar makes a rough shape using a hand saw, before refining the tenon into its final form.

Patan, 25 March 2016

ottom Right The base of each column will remain temporarily as an extra long block so it can be adapted once a decision is reached on the restoration of the plinth.

Patan, 24 March 2016

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Columns’ decorative carvings Some deities inhabiting miniature niches on the respective sides of the columns, either on the lower part (Nev. tau) or just below the upper spacing board (Nev. cakulã), and some decorative floral details were for some time waiting to be carved. As there are no detailed models, e.g. photographs or drawings, they cannot be copied from any original. It was decided to design the details in analogy to preserved ones.

Repair and Restoration of Columns For the restoration of the eleven outer columns of South Manima apa, each had to be inspected individually, resulting in a range of responses. All the columns date from the late 16th or even 15th century and are intricately carved, following a classical design pattern. This column type differs from the design of the four inner columns, and also from the design of the North Manima apa columns.

However similar they might be, each column differs slightly from the others. With the aims of keeping as much not only of the original wood but also of the intention of the original designer as possible, and at the same time maximizing their structural integrity, each column called for a different intervention. Stainless steel pins were used in two cases, for example, where the lower parts of a column had to be replaced by new elements.

In the following pages, various examples document individual solutions for the repair and restoration of these original timber columns.

Patan, workshop Hari Prasad Shilpakar, prepares for the carving of the new lower part of column “MP 5�. The upper part is already restored and provided with a new tenon.

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haktapur, Indra Kaji Shilpakar’s workshop Master carver Indra Kaji Shilpakar works on the twelveth column (“MP11”) for the South Manima apa.

Photo by Bijay Basukala, March 2016

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Patan, 30 March 2016 The replica of the twelveth column (“MP11”) after its arrival from Indra Kaji Silpakar’s workshop in haktapur. As work on each column for South Manima apa was complete or nearly complete, photographs were taken by photographer Ashesh Rajbansh to document their condition after restoration. The photos show each side of each of the twelve columns, a total of forty-eight sides.

Photos by Ashesh Rajbansh

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Left Patan, 28. March 2016 Pushpa Raj Shilpakar is busy working on the lower part of column “MP 3” that is still lacking the foliated design of two blank fields.

He draws a rough sketch to capture the proportions and then carves his own design.

Right Patan, 10 April 2016 A lotus scroll design has been carved into the blank space of column “MP3”.

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Left Column “MP 3”: One side of the corner column, before restoration.

Part of the top iwas broken off, along with the entire base.

Photo by Bijay Basukala, October 7, 2015

Middle Patan, 30 March 2016 Column “MP 3”: One side of the corner column remains uncomplete when Photographer Ashesh Rajbansh documents all 8 sides of the twelve outer columns: blank space is designed to be for floral design.

Photo by Ashesh Rajbansh

Right Patan, 28. March 2016 Pushpa Raj Shilpakar carves the foliated lotus scroll on the lower part of column “MP 3”.

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Left al Krishna Shilpakar and Tirtha Ram Shilpakar installing a stainless steel pin in the tenon of the lower part of MP3 while also adding wood glue.

Patan, 11 April 2016

Right al Krishna Shilpakar and Tirtha Ram Shilpakar join the new lower part of MP3 to the column shaft.

Patan, 11 April 2016

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Top Left and Right Patan, 27 March 2016 Column “MP 7”: One side shows the original bust of an (unidentified) deity, while another presents a newly carved copy.

ottom Left and Right Patan, 27 March 2016 The bust of a deity is carved in the blank field of column “MP ”. In so doing, Pushpa Raj Shilpakar copies the bust of the upper column part of column “MP7.”

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Left Side I of the four-sided column “MP 7” after restoration.

Photo (black-and-white) taken by Ashesh Rajbansh, March 30, 2016.

Right Patan, 6 April 2016 Detail showing the efforts undertaken to restore column “MP 7” in order to save as much of the original material as possible and retain the original design intention.

Carved timber was added in the upper part of the column replacing the damaged part (including the tenon).

Holes that had been made for the installation of planking between the northern columns were repaired.

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Above left Patan, 6 April 2016 Detail showing the carved timber replacement of a damaged section of the upper part of the column and the tenon Above middle Detail of the restoration of the lower part of column “MP 7”.

Right Side II of the four-sided column “MP 7” after restoration.

Photo (black-and-white) taken by Ashesh Rajbansh, 30 March 2016.

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Left Side III of the four-sided column “MP 7” after restoration.

Photo (black-and-white) taken by Ashesh Rajbansh, 30 March 2016.

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Above middle and right Patan, 6 April 2016 Restoration details of column “MP 7”. Carved timber was added to fill holes made for the installation of planking between the northern columns.

Left and Right Side IV of the four-sided column “MP 7” after restoration.

Photo (black-and-white) taken by Ashesh Rajbansh, 30 March 2016.

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Top and ottom Left Patan, 20 March 2016 Prince Harry visited the carving workshop in Patan. The photos show Rohit Ranjitkar (left), Prince Harry, and a wood carver.

Prince Harry draws the design of a repaired spacing plate on the new timber.and carves the design.

Via Twitter Kensington Palace: “The Apprentice, Kathmandu style.

HarryinNepal tries his hand at restoring ornate wooden carving”.

Source: https://www.royal.uk/princeharry-visits-nepal-day-2 Photos: ekantipur, 20 March 2016

Right Patan, 30 March 2016 Tirtha Ram Shilpakar inspects the shape of the replicated timber element of a repaired spacing board (Nev. cakulã).

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Spacing plates (Nev. cakulã) All twelve spacing plates at the columns (Nev. cakulã) broke and had to be repaired. The repair of the spacing plates, which are located on top of each outer column, was completed in March 2016. New timber and glue were used for their repair.

The lotus leaf design (Nev. palehaḥ) of the new timber elements repeats the pattern of the original parts. The pillars’ square-cut holes testify to the various sizes of the original tenons of the columns. These tenons, however, broke during the earthquake and had to be replaced. It is therefore not possible to match each spacing board to its original pillar. ut the decentralized holes indeed provide information about the orientation of the spacing boards, since the broader part always faces the outside. As mentioned earlier, the tenons, too, are displaced for static reason as the columns are load-bearing. In this sense, it is at least possible to allocate each corner pillar to a corner spacing board. To complete the work, either the new tenons will be shaped in accordance with the holes of the spacing boards or the original holes will have to be reshaped to fit to the tenons.

Capitals (Nev. metha) All capitals (Nev. metha) were saved after the total collapse of the Manima apa. The capital of each of the four corner pillars is composed of two parts that are assembled at an angle. One end is characterized by a projecting, capital-like lintel, the other by a beam end-like part with kũsuru heads (Nev. dhalĩmvāḥ). Some of the eight components of these corner capitals exhibited minor damage but did not necessarily need replacement or repair. Each has a weathered side and a well-preserved side—indications for the correct reassembly in the course of rebuilding.

The other eight pillars are crowned by full capitals. They are intricately carved on both sides, each of them showing the same kind of decoration: in the centre a halo face (Nev. kirtimukha) facing the outside, and a stylized lotus (facing the inside). It is generally understood that the “face of glory,” which is in fact the hybrid face of a

Above Patan, 30 March 2016 Tirtha Ram Shilpakar seeks to achieve a smooth transition from original to replaced carving after consulting with Pratap Shilpakar.

lion equipped with horns, devours a pair of snake bodies.

In the case of South Manima apa, however, the kirtimukha does not devour snakes, but instead spouts forth lotus leaves. The design is in each case individual, and in one case there are kirtimukhas on both sides of the capital. The capital brackets are decorated with lotus scrolls.

Of the eight capitals crowning the South Manima apa’s outer columns, two had to be restored. In the course of the reuse and restoration of the two damaged capitals, one lotus design was copied from a salvaged one and the other was designed by a carver.

It may be possible to situate the spacing boards and the capitals using the shapes of the holes which conform to the original, lost tenons. However, it will not be possible to do the same with the capitals.

Left Patan, 11 April 2016 The twelve spacing boards had to be repaired in individual manner.

Their square-cut holes testify to the various formats of the original tenons of each column.

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Patan, 15 April 2016 Carved beam end-like part of the corner capitals,with kũsuru heads (Nev. dhalĩmvāḥ).

Documentation of both sides of two corner capitals that are designed to be assembled at an angle.

In each case, one side is weathered, the other well preserved.

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Above Patan, 15 April 2016 Two capitals of the outer columns were damaged to such an extent that they had to be extensively restored.

Left Patan, 15 April 2016 The two capitals (Nev. metha) after restoration. Intricately carved on both sides, each of them shows the same kind of decoration: a halo face (Nev. kirtimukha) (facing outside), and a stylized lotus (facing inside); the kirtimukha does not devour snakes, but spouts lotus leaves instead. The lintels are decorated with lotus scrolls. The design is in each case individual. In both cases, the lotus-side was heavily damaged and had to be replaced by a new carving. In one case, the side with the kirtimukha could be reused, in the other, one half is original and the other has been replaced.

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South Manima apa Shaft detail at one of the four inner columns in situ.

Photo by Niels Gutschow, 2008

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their original columns.

Top Traditional Newari assembly of a post, lintel and beam. The Newari expressions for the various elements are: 1. ilohan (dressed natural stone), 2. lakansin (wooden threshold), 3. than (wooden post), . mehta (wooden bracket/capital), 5. nina (lintel), 6. dhalin (beam), 7. sa (peg).

Inner Columns The four inner columns that used to support the joists remain intact. Due to rising damp, the lower sections of the four inner columns were rotten. These load-bearing elements will need special reinforcement.

Top and ottom Right Patan, 24 March 2016 The four inner columns have to be restored. Their lower parts are rotten, must be replaced, and need special reinforcement.

Source: Wolfgang Korn: The Traditional Architecture of the Kathmandu Valley, 1976, 106.

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Column Comparison rom left to right: Patan, Ukubaha, ca. 1100 CE; Kathmandu, Kasthamandapa, 14th century; haktapur, Manima apa at Nasahmana, 16th century; Patan, Sarasvati Sattal at Darbar Square, 17th century

Opposite South Manima apa Poster “Patan Darbār Square, Nepal - Ma iManima apa Column Restoration,” printed by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust in July 2016.

Implementation of column restoration was by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust, in Cooperation with the Department of Archaeology, with the support of the German oreign Ministry, the Prince Claus und (Netherlands), the Himal Initiative Deutschland ( amberg, Germany) and South Asia Institute, Heidelberg. Restoration of Eleven Columns and Replacement of One Column - October 2015 - April 2016.

Woodcarvers: Master Carver Indrakaji Silpakar, Indra Prasad Silpakar, Tirtha Ram Silpakar, Surya Silpakar, Puspa Silpakar, Macha Man Silpakar and Hari Prasad Silpakar, Under the Guidance of ijay asukala.

Photos by Ashesh Rajbansh

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Top Left Pushpa Raj Shilpakar carves the intricate design of lotus flowers alternating with bells (Nev. palesva) for the lowest layer of South Manima apa cornice.

Patan, 25 March 2016

Top Right Lowest layer of South Manima apa cornice: Pratap Shilpakar does not closely copy of the original element but instead draws his design by looking and creating something similar.

Patan, 30 March 2016

ottom Left ijay asukala points at the “hand” (Nev. lhāḥphvaḥ) that is connected to a replaced element of the mouse teeth (Nev. chũvā) layer with a tenon.

Patan, 11 April 2016

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Cornice The South Manima apa cornice consists of four layers: lotus flower (Nev. palesva) alternating with bells (Nev. gha a), snake (Nev. nāḥg/nāga), beam ends with stylized kũsuru heads (Nev. dhalĩmvāḥ), and mouse teeth (Nev. chũvā) ending in protruding hand-shaped elements (Nev. lhāḥphvaḥ). The repair and restoration of the broken multi-layered cornice was completed by the end of April 2016.

The tentative assemblage of the restored salvaged fragments shows that the south side (facing the palace) and the west side (facing the square) in the main survived the structure’s collapse, while the remaining sides that fell into the stepwell broke into pieces. All four corners had to be repaired as their joints were broken, and some “hands” had to be replaced. The restoration of the original wooden parts used timber for the replacement of decorative elements that were carved as well as for the repairs with joints. The joints recall traditional carpentry techniques; however, some are highly inventive, based on the experience of the carpenters. Stainless steel bars reinforce somewhat delicate parts, either parts with large cracks or even new joints. The use of steel is considered a compromise that allows the retention of as much of the original material as possible. It is also used in reinforcing repaired but still fragile parts of the construction.

Top left Tentative reassembly of the restored, renewed, and repaired elements of the timber cornice of South Manima apa . New timber carving and reinforcement through steel bars was necessary to maintain as much of the original material as possible.

Patan, 11 April 2016

ottom Left New timber carving and reinforcement through steel bars was necessary to maintain as much of the original material as possible.

The photos show a part of the lowest layers, lotus flower alternating with bells (Nev. palesva), seen from front and back.

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Top South Manima apa Reinforcement using steel plates allowed the retention of as much of the original material as possible.

The photo shows the repair of a corner of the lowest layers.

ottom South Manima apa Reinforcement using steel plates and repair with new timber elements. The photo shows the repair of a part of the second layer.

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South Manima apa New timber carving and reinforcement with steel plates were used in order to retain as much of the original material as possible. The photos show parts of the lowest layers, lotus flower alternating with bells (Nev. palesva), the second layer, snake (Nev. nāḥg/nāga), (not in the picture: the third layer with beam ends with k suru heads (Nev. dhalĩmvāḥ)) and the mouse teeth (Nev. chũvā) layer.

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Patan, 31 March 2016 Inventory of the four god-windows: The windows (1 to 4, clockwise) need minor restauration effort. The carved gods looking outside the openings have been lost.

Windows The four god-windows (Nev. dyaḥjhyāḥ) of the northern, eastern, southern and western side of South Manima apa were reassembled after the earthquake, with three of them in a fragmented state. The fragments of the intricately carved wooden windows of the knee walls were examined by Tirtha Ram Shilpakar and ijay asukala, who also measured them in order to make drawings; a rough sketch and highlights mark the window elements that are to be renewed because they are lost, damaged or rotten. The windows needed a minor restoration effort, which was completed by the end of April 2016.

Interestingly, all four of these early 15th-century windows testify to the reuse of decorative timber columns: Reminicent of the design of the four inner columns of South Manima apa, the decorative upper parts of the columns reused for the four window sills may date from the 11th to 15th centuries.

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The loss of the busts of deities that looked outside the window openings are a conservation challenge; as there is no documentary evidence, the gods cannot be replaced.

This means that the window openings’ original purpose is lost, and that in this regard they have lost their meaning.

Top left The fragments of the four intricately carved wooden god-windows (Nev. dyaḥjhyāḥ) were roughly sketched by ijay asukala. The highlighted parts of window No. 1 mark the elements that have to be replaced.

Patan, 31 March 2016

Top right Pushpa Raj Shilpakar copies the design of a sill that divides the opening of the window because it got lost due to the earthquake.

Patan, 2016

Middle left Prem Shilpakar copies the counterpart of the colonnette of window No. 1 which is deteriorated and will be replaced.

Patan, 10 April 2016

Middle right Machaman Shilpakar recarves two different replacements (one for the broken shaft of a colonnette and one for the lower part of another colonnette) on one piece that will be divided in the end.

Patan, 10 April 2016

ottom Like the window sill of window Nr. 1, all four early 18th century windows testify to the reuse of decorative timber columns for the window sills.

Patan, 31 March 2016

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Opposite Inventory of the surviving roof struts of South Manima apa.

Six struts remain which feature fragmented deities with lost forearms. The four corner struts with “corner horses” (Nev. k sala ) are complete.

Patan, 11 April 2016

Roof Struts South Manima apa’s roof was originally supported by twenty struts. Sixteen struts represented certain deities in distinct postures, holding their characterizing attributes in their two hands. Each forearm of the bipartite arms was connected to the figure’s upper arm with iron hinges. Already before 25 April 2015, some of these struts had been lost. The four corner struts which supported the Manima apa’s heavy roof and spiritually protected it represent two pairs of female and male “corner horses” (Nev. kũsalaḥ) –– hybrid creatures in the form of horned and winged lions. Ten struts survive, among them the four corner struts. The cross-legged, garland-wearing deities in diaphanous garments on five of the struts have lost their forearms, including the attributes that were important parts of their iconography. Despite this fact, two can be identified as they are riding on their typical mounts: Mahālakshmi on a snake, and Unmatta hairava on a lion. The iconography of one strut, showing Hanuman, the central figure of the Hindu epic Ramayana, is different compared to the others. urthermore, Hanuman is constructed in a different manner, which becomes evident if one studies his remaining upper arms that seemed to be of one single part (there remain no holes as the forearms are missing). The strut may have originally belonged to some other building and was possibly recycled at the South Manima apa.

The conservation of the struts will turn out to be a difficult issue: Which strut or deity is missing remains unclear due to the lack of pre-earthquake documentation.

In this context, a replacement of the lost struts is impossible. At the same time, the lost forearms and attributes of the remaining deities cannot be reconstructed using 3-dimensional models. This situation will likely be resolved with the installation of blank timber struts and fragmented carved struts,- in other words, a fragmented state of repair.

Roof The roof will be reconstructed with new materials since there is nothing left that can be reused.

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Open Questions In the South Manima apa, the rebuilding is taken as an opportunity to reconfigure the structure’s latest state of repair to return as closely to the historic design as possible, as there have been more recent changes to the building made in the course of renovations. However, it will be a matter of discussion to determine which historic design is the. There is only one historic photograph, taken

by Clarence Comyn Taylor in 1863, that guides us. As discussed, this photo does not show the original design, but a mandapa that was already altered. And a significant question must be addressed regarding the future shape of the surrounding wall of the stepwell.

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Top South Manima apa At ground level, the plinth of the Pati being excavated and trash cleared from site.

April 25, 2016

ottom left Stone mason chiseling the bead (nagol ) for the base of the plinth.

May 05, 2016

ottom right ormer Prime Minister Mr. Puspa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) inaugurates the rebuilding of the Pati in a ceremony by laying a foundation brick at the northeast corner on April 25, 2016. This inauguration initiated the overall reconstruction of monuments and houses that were destroyed by the earthquake of April 25, 2015.

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Annex Overview of restoration activities, April—June 2016

South Manima apa rick pavement that was a later addition was removed and excavation was carried out around the Pati’s plinth to analyze the condition of the foundation. Original brick and stone beads (nagol ) were discovered.

May 12, 2016

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Top South Manima apa Detailed measurement of different sized windows continued on site as a basis for making drawings and other documentation. Three types of multipart windows: Central window, side window, blind window.

Sketch by Sirish Bhatt May 02, 2016

ottom South Manima apa Tirhta Ram Shilpakar and al Krishna Shilpakar assemble one of the four central windows after damaged parts have been replicated or repaired.

May 08, 2016

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South Manima apa Hari Prasad Shilpakar replicates the deity of a central window’s cornice (kulan) from an original.

May 17, 2016

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Left South Manima apa Documentation of a 15th- century column. The drawing was printed as a poster by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust in Summer 2016.

Drawing by Bijay Basukala, Spring 2016

Right Detail of Drawing

Opposite South Manima apa al Krishna Shilpakar restores the top of one of the four inner columns.

May 20, 2016

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South Manima apa al Krishna Shilpakar repairs and retrofits a capital (metha), using bamboo pics. The decision to repair the capital was made on second inspection. In sum, three capitals had to be repaired.

May 24, 2016

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South Manima apa al Krishna Shilpakar repairs and retrofits one capital of the inner columns of the Pati.

May 30, 2016

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South Manima apa A metal fence has been installed surrounding the construction site of both mandapas.

June 17, 2016

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Manimaṇḍapa North The Restoration of North Manima

apa, Patan Darbār Square

An annotated on-site report, 24 March to 16 April 2016 (Katharina Weiler) A rief History of the Emergence and Development of the Kirtimukha Motif in Nepal (Niels Gutschow)

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The Restoration and Rebuilding of the North Manimaṇḍapa Patan Darbār Square History Even though the construction date of the North Manima apa (“Pavilion of Jewels”) cannot be confirmed, the structure likely dates to the seventeenth century. Daniel Wright quotes a source and names ir Deva as the Licchavi king who built the mandapas, along with the tank and watercourses. Renovation of the site was carreid out under Raja oganarendra Malla in ca. 1701, and a throne was installed.

At some point, the timber cornices fell prey to the modification of the building and were replaced in brick.

On the occasion of King irendra’s coronation in 197 , the North Manima apa was altered significantly. The timber planking was replaced by stone slabs, and the ventilated plinth was filled with rubble. When the step well, Ma gahi , was renovated in 2010, minor repairs were made to the plinth of the North Manima apa.

E isting Condition fter the 20 5 Earthquake The North Manima apa ground floor beams were rotten even before the earthquake.

All of the 16 timber pillars were partially damaged in the 2015 earthquake, and their upper tenons were broken.

One column broke into four pieces.

The column capitals (metha) are all in good condition.

An entire set of new beams and crossed beams need to introduced as the existing were damaged by wet rot and smaller sections were used in the last renovation.

The timber conices were already lost before the 1970s, and the same is true for the original terracotta cornices Nothing salvageable is left from the roof.

Proposed Rebuilding The South Manima apa, which kept its early 18th-

century shape despite several alterations in the centuries that followed its contruction, will serve as the model for the reconstruction of its norhtern counterpart. Historic photographs of the North Manima apafrom the 19th and early 20th centuries will also inform the design.

The design will maximize the reuse of salvaged historic elements and will use appropriate historic materials to replace unsalvageable or missing pieces.

The North Manima apa will also require state-of-theart seismic strengthening as the immense load of the knee walls and roof have to be supported by the 16 timber columns above the plinth. etter connectivity throughout, including between the columns and the plinth and foundation, is imperative for life safety and durability.

Opposite View of the North Manima apa, seen from the east. Detail of a photograph taken ca. 1863 by Clarence Comyn Tayler.

Courtesy of National Geographic Society

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North Manima apa North east corner. ormer planking has been replaced by stone slabs, and the original wooden multi-layered cornice has been replaced in brick.

Photo by Mary S. Slusser, 1970.

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North Manima apa North east corner. The wooden beams above the plinth have been replaced. The plinth has been faced with new brick.

Photo by Rohit Ranjitkar, 2010

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Left, Top North Manima apa, north-west corner Left, ottom South-west corner of North Manima apa, seen from northwest. The base is damaged.

Right South-west corner of North Manima apa, west side.

Corner stone is out of plumb.

Opposite North Manima apa The state of the collapsed pati indicates that the structural timber columns could not withstand the earthquake due to the poor connections between the timber columns and the stone bases, and between the stone bases and the foundation.

Photo by Rohit Ranjitkar, April 26, 2015

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North Manima apa Elevations of plinth on all four sides, showing rotation of corner stones in the course of the 2015 earthquake.

Documentation by Wolfgang Korn, Padma Sundar Maharjan, Sabina Tandukar and Monica Bassi, November 2015

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Top left Details of joints at the southeast corner and middle of timber base beam.

Drawing by Wolfgang Korn, November 2015

Top Right Elevation and section of plinth corner, seen from west.

Documentation by Wolfgang Korn, Padma Sundar Maharjan, Sabina Tandukar and Monica Bassi, November 2015

ottom Southeast corner of plinth, showing joint at corner base beams.

Photo by Rohit Ranjitkar, October 2015

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North Manima apa Field measurement of column and capital for use in making measured drawings.

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Top left North Manima apa: Krishna Sundar Shilpakar copies the pattern from one cornice layer of the South Manima apa, which is the model for the new cornice of the North Manima apa.

May 08, 2016

Top right A woodcarver replicates the lion heads (sinkhwa) and cornices that are missing from the past at the workshop in haktapur.

May 09, 2016

ottom left and right The middle column is repaired by adding a new piece of timber onto the base.

May 20, 2016

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North Manima apa Woodcarver adding the lost part of the column, step by step.

May 24 & 27, 2016

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New piece of sal wood has been added on the top of central column and replication of lost carving work is ongoing. The sal procured for the north pati is being stored at the carving workshop in haktapur.

May 29 & June 03, 2016

ottom The damaged parts of the column are being replaced with new timber pieces and the carved elements are replicated based on the existing.

May 29, 2016

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North Manima apa The damaged parts of the column are being replaced by new timber pieces and the carvings are replicated based on the existing.

May 29, 2016

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The damaged parts of the column are being replaced by new timber dutchmen and the carved elements are replicated.

June 03, 2016

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Top North Manima apa Woodcarver replicating the details of the existing carvings on repaired column. The mortise is made on the top of the existing column to add a new tenon.

June 08, 2016

ottom North Manima apa The damaged parts of the column are replaced by new timber pieces and the carved elements are replicated.

June 03, 2016

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North Manima apa Woodcarver replicating the details of the existing carvings on a replacement piece in a repaired capital.

June 05, 2016

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North Manima apa The existing damaged capital (meth) during fabrication and joining of a new piece in preparation for carving.

July 10, 2016

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A Brief History of the Emergence and Development of the Kirtimukha Motif in Nepal

By Niels Gutschow 1

Overview — levels of symbolism Kirtimukha is essentially a lion’s face, albeit as a hybrid representation, with horns and, eventually, with winged arms. The lion has been, from earliest times, a symbol of royalty and as such made its way from the Etruscan culture to be absorbed by the Greeks, the Romans, and the Sassanians, and may have parallel roots in Central Asia and among the Scythian tribes. This is not the place to trace origins of the lion in South Asian Art. The lion appears in pairs in the 2nd to 1st-century CE caves of Pithalkora. Reduced to its face Kirtimukha is seen neither at Pithalkora or at Kanheri, but appears in wide variety at the late 5th century caves of Ajanta (fig. 2) and at Ellora, at 6th century caves of adami, at 7th century temples of hubaneswar and at 8th-century temples of Pattadakal and Aihole, India.

Given this sequence, the earliest representations of Kirtimukha must have come from the cave temples of western India. In all examples “kirttimukha masks are spouting forth crocodilian and exuberantly florescent forms”, as Walter M. Spink wrote in his seminal account of the Ajanta caves in 2009. “ lorescent” refers to “flowering and budding”, although the “mask” spouts forth strands of beads, which are either absorbed by pairs of Makaras, held by flying spirits (vidyadhara) in the fashion of garlands, or in case of a frieze, by the neighbouring masks. Spouting and absorbing has to be understood as the act of inhaling and exhaling as the ultimate representation of life.

The beads, however, have to be identified as water drops, as Gautam Vajra Vajracharya established in the first meaningful article on the subject in 2015. Kirtimukha thus turns into one of those cloud borne celestial crea-

Pashupatinatha, Kirtimukha on a string course of a Licchavi-era Shikhara temple in miniature form, ca. 6th 7th centiury.

tures such as Makara (the crocodilian amphibian creature), the birdmen Gandharva or Kinnara. estowing water, the face or mask of Kirtimukha turns into a motif that spreads across various architectural elements: it occupies the bottom or top of a column or pillar, the capital bracket, and the top of cow-eye motifs.

2 Ajanta, Kirtimukha on a column of the porch of cave 1, dated 469–473 CE

1 The earliest known Kirtimukha appear on the corner pillar of an open miniature shrine, on friezes of a Shikhara temple within the inner compound of the Pashupatinath temple (fig. 1) and on the corner pillars of a former miniature shrine at Panauti – all of them dedicated to Shiva, dated to the 6th or 7th centuries. The head has ears, whiskers, traces of the mane framing the cheeks, but no horns. The mouth spouts forth strands of beads or simply or simply seven to ten parallel strands without any indication of beads.

2 At about the same time Kirtimukha came to crown the niches of uddhist votive structures, caityas. There, Kirtimukha spouts forth strands of beads or snake bodies which often serve as the niche’s frame. The strands end up in the mouth or tail of a Makara, the tail of a lion, or simply in profuse foliage. On Licchavicaityas, Kirtimukha is rarely horned but crowned by an elongated crescent and the cheeks tend to dissolve into foliage. Teeth are rarely seen and occasionally the mouth is 333

3 Panauti, Kirtimukha on the stylized bracket of the secondary lintel, Indreshvara temple, southern portal, ca. mid-13th century.

4 Patan, Mahabauddha, Kirtimukha on a capital-bracket of the porch, ca. 1600.

beaked.

3 Very few Kirtimukha such as those of the 11th-century tympanum of Yetkhabaha in Kathmandu, the lintel of the early 13th-century western portal of the Indreshvara temple in Panauti (fig. 3), the aedicule of 13th century Vishveshvara temple in Panauti and the jambs of the southern portal of the early 15th century Yaksheshvara temple in haktapur illustrate its occurrence without winged arms in the seven centuries spanning from the 9th to the 15th centuries. Likewise, the Kirtimukha faces above or below the pot motif of the columns in stone of porches of 16th-century Shikhara temples replicate the age-old model.

It is to this model that the Kirtimukha faces of the Manimandapa are faithful. They keep spouting either beads or lotus foliage in ever new variations, testifying to the wide range of patterns the 14th century wood carvers mastered.

4 The face of Kirtimukha preserves its characteristics in 334

the second half of the 16th century, but at the jambs of the the Char Narayana temples in Patan (1565) and Kathmandu (1560), at the Gokarneshvara temple and at the northern portal of the aksheshvara temple in haktapur the mask is framed by a pair of winged arms. The hands grasp lotus vine that is spouted forth and the central pendant develops into coils of lotus foliage.

The small faces of Kirtimukha above the dentils of the portals’ lintel spout forth lotus foliage, but in a single case it spouts forth a pair a coiled snake bodies. The heads are erect and turned away from the face. This is probably the first example that follows the etkhabaha model dated to the 11th century. The Kirtimukha on the lintel level of the main entrance of the Mahabauddha temple in Patan (fig. ), most probably dated to the legendary completion of the temple in 1601, presents a rare exception. The hands emerge from behind profuse lotus foliage which in a way replaces the feathered wings.

5 Since the early 17th century, Kirtimukha on a variety of architectural elements such as columns, capital-brackets tympana, the lintel, the jambs and even the colonnettes, are in almost all examples equipped with winged arms, the hands clutching snake bodies.

The Vishveshvara temple on Patan’s Darbar Square, dated to 1627, alone features nine varieties. Among these are two examples which demonstrate the emergence into a new era, initiated by King Siddhinarasimha Malla. At a tympanum, Kirtimukha displays his upper and lower jaws without spouting forth foliage or snake bodies. The arms turn away from the face holding upright a pair of snakes. The jaws are framed by a pair of beaked leogryphs (shardula) and a pair of dragons. On the corner tympanum Kirtimukha is even carved in full relief, clutching the tails of a pair of dragons. rom that time onwards dragons attain a prominent role on tympana and capital-brackets, replacing the snake as the prominent aquatic animal.

The development culminates with the elaborate Kir-

timukha of the tympanum above Chusyabaha’s principle entrance (1673) (fig. 5). With large glaring eyes, fiery eyebrows and whiskers, the curled mane of the lion framing the cheeks and a crescent on top the face follows largely the ancient formula. New and unique is the replacement of the horns by upright antlers. The arms are not winged but turned upwards to clutch a pair of snakes, the bodies of which are entwined with the bodies of a pair of winged dragons, their claws clasping the ocean’s pearl an obvious reference to the Chinese tradition of dragons that belong to the realm of the waters.

5 Kathmandu, Chusyabaha; Kirtimukha on the tympanum above the principal doorway, north wing, dated to 1673.

6

y the end of the 17th century, the depiction of Kirtimukha’s face underwent one more decisive change.

Almost all facial elements such as eyes, nose, ears and mouth are transformed into lotus vine or leaf-pattern. In a few prominent cases at Musyabaha (fig. 6) or Laganbaha, both in Kathmandu, teeth remain identifiable, and horns supporting the crescent motif with lotus pattern.

The arms emerge from behind lotus scrollwork in an almost inconspicuous fashion.

6 Kathmandu, Musyabaha; Kirtimukha on the jamb on the jamb of the doorway, south wing, last quarter of the 17th century.

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7 and 8 South Mandapa Metha nos. 1,2

9 and 10 South Mandapa: Metha nos. 3,

South Mandapa Capital-brackets (metha) nos. 1,2 Striking is the loop that encloses the head (figs. 7 and 8): A continous flow of beads is at the same time spouted forth and swallowed up — very similar to the early 15th century representation of Kirtimukha at the Indreshvara temple in Panauti (fig. 3). The heads are not crowned; the whiskers foliated and the corners of the mouth only indicated and the spouted lotus foliage made to frame the panel. No. 1 is the only example of the cheeks featuring no mane.

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Capital-brackets (metha) nos. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 All of these faces are crowned by a crescent, supporting a jewel-like object, circular (no. 7, fig. 13) or oval in shape probably a lotus flower. As a peculiarity, on nos. 3 and 6 (figs. 9 and 12) an S-shaped curve divides the whiskers from the Cupid’s bow and ends up behind the nasal wings. The mouths with seven teeth and a pair of fangs spout forward a variety of foliage. Similar to the face on the column these Kirtimukha are framed halolike by fiery elements in two layers behind which in one case (no. 6, fig. 9) emerges lotus vine.

11 and 12 South Mandapa Metha nos. 5, 6

13 and 14 South Mandapa Metha nos. 7, 8

Capital-bracket (metha) no. 8 One face differs considerably in size (fig. 1 ). eing about ten percent smaller, more space is provided for the spouted strands of foliage and the halo-like frame gains three layers of fiery elements.

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15 Stylized double roof moulding at the top of a pillar, incorporating Kirtimukha.

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South Mandapa Capital-bracket (metha) One of the eight capital-brackets (metha) crowning the pillars on the four sides. On the outside, the central panels (measuring 11.5 13) enclose Kirtimukha’s face (fig.16), on the inner side fully opened lotus flowers in an almost perfect circle (fig. 17), as usual slightly broader than high.

The projecting bracket-like ends of the capital are defined by a variation of a volute with a pair of circular cushion-like elements featuring circular lotus blossoms.

A band of beads encloses dynamic scrollwork of lotus vine.

Pillar (Opposite) The stylized double roof moulding at the top of a pillar, incorporating Kirtimukha (fig. 15).

The double roof mouldings at the top, bottom and at the upper third of the column incorporate rectangular panels featuring foliage, scrollwork, a fully opened lotus flower, a peacock, a gander facing a snake, hybrid creatures, a bust of a godling, or unidentified deities in niches. Only one panel at the top encorporates Kirtimukha’s face with its usual features: Upright ears with bent horns, cheeks with borders of curls, distinct corners of the mouth, revealing seven teeth. The mouth spouts forth foliage on each side and a central foliated pendant.

Unusual is the fiery top above the horns. Ten curved strands hover above the head, framing a foliated central motif.

16 and 17 South Mandapa oth sides of a capital-bracket (metha) with Kirtimukha and lotus.

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Krishna Temple, 1637 (Kṛṣṇa Mandir) Investigation and Research of Krishna Temple in Patan Darbar (2015–2016) (Neeta Das)

1 Krishna Temple The temple was damaged by the earthquakes of 2015.

All photographs have been taken by the team unless otherwise stated.

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2 Elevation of Krishna Mandir.

Investigation and Research of Krishna Temple in Patan Darbar (2015–2016)

Source: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars (...), Vol. II, 2011

Inspection Team (Kolkata, India): Neeta Das, conservation architect (project head and co-coordinator) Ramesh hole, conservation architect, (stone expert) Sumanta Roy, Mascon (conservation contractor) Pinaki Ghosh, Caltech (conservation engineer) Condition Survey Overview The Krishna Temple (K a Mandir) ( igs. 1, 2) was designed with three-storeys with 21 pinnacles. Narrative friezes wrap the structure. As per architectural historian Niels Gutschow, the Krishna Temple “redefined the scale and materials of the architecture of the Kathmandu Valley, for its impact was greater than any other single structure and its influence can be seen in 21 temples built over the subsequent 120 years. (...) It takes the shaft of the North Indian shikhara tower and reinterprets it with the stepped quality of its own multi-tiered temples, culminating in a pyramidal top.”1 The structure raises on a modest plinth (fig. 5). Open and covered spaces alternate on the first and second floor levels where “the devotee moves through a virtual forest of 40 columns” (fig. 6). In order to provide stability to the structure, the central shrine dedicated to ālagopāla, K a’s form as the youthful cowherd, was raised to the first level. The temple was consecrated by King Siddhinarasimhmalla on 23rd ebruary, 1637.

Shikhara tower with garbha griha

Despite the fact that only the second floor the Shiva temple level was damaged by the earthquake in 2015, the whole Krishna Temple was closely inspected for damage.

Plinth

irst oor The first floor the Visnu temple level is worshiped every day, morning and evening, by devotees and the

Second floor (Shiva temple level)

First floor (Visnu temple level)

Ground floor level

Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars (...), Vol. II, 2011, 530f.

1

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3 Krishna Temple, Roof plan, scale 1:100 Source: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, Vol.II, 2011, 548

4 Krishna Temple Section, scale 1:100.

Drawing by Bijay Basukala and G. Joshi, 1994.

Source: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, Vol.II, 2011, 545

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5 Krishna Temple Ground floor plan

Source: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, Vol.II, 2011, 546 6

irst floor plan (Visnu temple level)

Source: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, Vol.II, 2011, 547

7 Second floor plan (Shiva temple level) Source: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, Vol.II, 2011, 547

8 Shikhara plan with garbha griha.

Source: Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the Newars, Vol.II, 2011, 547

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There are a few problems that can be addressed at the Visnu temple level (fig. 6). Probably due to inconvenience during the rains, tin sheds (fig. 10) have been erected in between the chattris, reducing the aesthetic quality of the fa ade. The other addition to the main structure is the iron pipe railing (fig. 9). However, both of these may have helped in preventing the damage to this level due to the earthquake.

The temple seems to have been repaired at some earlier date. All the stone joints have been repointed and stone plastic repairs done. This has been done with a grey cement-like material (fig. 11).

Second oor The maximum damage seems to be at the second floor, the Shiva temple level. If one looks at the plans (figs. 2, 4 and 7), the structure at this level is the most delicate and the heavy roof (fig. 3) is supported on slender colonnades (fig. 1 ). It is probably for this reason that the maximum damage was caused to this level.

9 Vishnu temple level: Iron pipe railing.

10 Vishnu temple level: Temporary tin roof

Due to the lateral movement during the earthquake, the columns have moved out of plumb (fig. 12); old repairs have come out; the columns, brackets, and bases of the columns have been damaged (figs. 16 22, 2 ); the window frames and key stones have been dislodged (fig. 18); and some stones, especially at the corners of the domed womb-chamber (garbha griha) have been severely damaged.

11 Vishnu temple level: Cement repairs on the ceiling of a chattri

priests. It opens every morning for morning aarti (vesper service) and bhajans (singing of devotional songs). The priest worships the deity and the temple is again closed till evening. The same process is repeated after sunset.

The daily use by the locals keeps the temple vibrant and alive and reduces deterioration due to neglect and disuse. ut it causes some wear and tear to the building and especially carved stones.

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Recommendation for repairs As suggested by Gutschow the temple was probably designed to withstand earthquakes. If one looks at the arrangement of stones carefully, the garbha griha is octagonal in plan with a domical roof (fig. 8). The roof rests on a ring beam which in turn rests on lintel beams.

The lintel beams are transferring the load to stone (1).

In all the four corners the stone (2) is left largely free of the structural system, probably designed to fail’ during

an earthquake. It is only these four corners and columns that have been most damaged but their repair is simpler since they do not support the upper structure (figs. 15 and 23).

It is thus recommended that the inner shrine be filled and thereby supported by sand bags so as to reduce the load from the other supporting structures. The corner columns can then be easily removed, repaired, and reinstalled in place.

A major problem is the colonnade, where several columns have been dislodged and are out of plumb (fig.

12). It is recommended that the columns be realigned and to prevent furhter damage a pipe railing, like the one below (fig. 9), is installed all around the external colonnade.

The same is recommended for the corner stones (11) (fig. 22) below the columns (1). The window frames would be similarly removed, repaired, and installed in place and the window grill (jaali) re-installed. All the joints would later be filled and finished in matching and compatible mortar.

It is recommended that before starting the work, the temple is cleaned of the bird droppings and the archaeological material properly stacked. It is also recommended that tell tales are attached to major cracks to monitor them.

It is also important to brace the unstable pieces of stone to prevent damage and accidents. It would be advisable to do a petrography test and mortar analysis of the existing samples of stones and mortar to get a better and more compatible understanding (figs. 26 28).

12

Krsna Degah, Patan: Out of plumb columns

13 Krsna Degah, Patan: Damaged column shaft on second floor level

14 External view of second floor (Shiva level)

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15 Krsna Degah, Patan: Second floor plan showing major earthquake damage

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Right 16 Damaged stone carving

17 Dislodged and stone out of plumb stones in corners

18 allen key stone and inclined jamb stone

19 Old repair damaged and stone dislodged

Left 20

Displaced brackets

21 Damaged capital

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Left 22 Damaged corner stone

Right 23 Conjectural stone plan detail of second floor (Shiva level)

Left 24 Displaced curved stone brackets

Right 25 Typical second floor level elevation

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26 Stone type no. 1: Probably basalt.

27 Stone type no. 2: Probably yellow sandstone.

Left 28 List of stone sizes. Three to four types of stones are used in the construction of the temple.

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Annex Krsna templa, restoration project.

Assessment of damaged caused by the 25 April 2015 earthquake. Second floor level, (K훮 Vi van훮tha Sanctum), elevation east, scale 1:10.

Rendered black: Gaps. Rendered grey: Surface of stone flaking off.

The Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust.

Survey: Bijay Basukala, 28 October 2015

Krsna templa, restoration project.

Assessment of damaged caused by the 25 April 2015 earthquake. Second floor level, (K훮 Vi van훮tha Sanctum), elevation south, scale 1:10.

Rendered black: Gaps. Rendered grey: Surface of stone flaking off.

The Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust.

Survey: Bijay Basukala, 28 October 2015

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Krsna templa, restoration project.

Assessment of damaged caused by the 25 April 2015 earthquake. Second floor level, (K훮 Vi van훮tha Sanctum), elevation west, scale 1:10 Rendered black: Gaps. Rendered grey: Surface of stone flaking off.

The Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust Survey: Bijay Basukala, 28 October 2015

Krsna templa, restoration project.

Assessment of damaged caused by the 25 April 2015 earthquake. Second floor level, (K훮 Vi van훮tha Sanctum), elevation north, scale 1:10. Rendered black: Gaps. Rendered grey: Surface of stone flaking off.

The Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust.

Survey: Bijay Basukala, 28 October 2015

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29 Krsna Temple with scaffolding, Patan Darbar Square, view towards West.

Photograph by Katharina Weiler, September 2016

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Sundari Cok Sundari Cok East Wing (Niels Gutschow)

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Sundari Cok East Wing

By Niels Gutschow

Historical Significance of Sundari Cok Palace The Sundari Cok courtyard is an outstanding example of Malla-period palace architecture, situated at the southeast corner of Patan Darbar Square. Its prominent position at the major crossroads of the city makes it an important public monument, while its extraordinary courtyard enclosure — never before opened to the public makes it the most significant structure within the former palace complex. Commissioned in 1628 by King Siddhinarasimha Malla, the courtyard served primarily as the stage for the Tushahiti, a sunken carved stone stepwell. While little is known of the exact interior layout and function of the building itself, the rooms on the ground floor level were likely used for rituals related to Tushahiti.

The courtyard’s intimate scale gives it a unique atmosphere, while its intricately carved doors and windows attest to an extraordinary artistic legacy. Since its construction in the 17th century, the building has undergone a series of interventions, retaining stylistic features from various time periods. The building was initially a freestanding two-storied structure. The pillars of the court’s dalan arcades and the wall brackets of the principal entrance represent 17th century traditions.

In the 1730’s, the building received an additional floor, distinctive triple-bayed windows, and an ambulatory running along the courtyard fa ade. The introduction of dragon-shaped struts toward the square and a screened gallery facing the court is a departure from earlier building practices and anticipates a change in style that became more common later in the 18th century.

With minimal written documentation and few historical photographs, the reading of history from the physical layers of the building itself becomes important. Adding to the complexity of reading the building is its history of repeated earthquakes and cyclical renewal, resulting in

the blurring of traces of physical history. or this reason, KVPT has undertaken extensive documentation and analyses of the building’s existing conditions.

East wing The east wing is notable for facing the handarkhal garden to the east of the courtyard, of which little is known.

The building collapsed eastward during the 1934 earthquake, leaving the east wing in ruins. There is no historical evidence that tells us anything about the design of the 18th century east façade except for 19th century drawings that suggest the introduction of a terrace on the top floor.

The existing east façade, designed and constructed after the 193 earthquake, contrasts starkly with the rest of the building in its lack of ornament and use of ordinary bricks (mā āpa). This fa ade breaks with the conventions of Newar architecture by introducing upright rectangular windows. The elongation of the facade to the north, covering the gap between Sundari Cok and Mulcok, may have originated earlier.

Existing Condition The order of the fa ade with seven windows each on first and second floor levels is carefully designed with a central range of three windows, flanked by two windows on each side at intervals of 2.20 and 2.50 meters. Two doors provided access at the northern end and a few roughly framed niches house sculptural fragments. Almost all of the brickwork of the ground floor has eroded due to rising damp, and one window frame is entirely lost.

The east façade was entirely rebuilt in 1936 using lowfired mud bricks (mā āpa). There has been no structural repair since then, but the façade has undergone minor repairs such as cement repointing of bricks on the ground floor level. This has caused severe spalling in several locations. Many brick surfaces are completely lost: in some cases, half or more of the mass of the individual bricks

Opposite View of Patan Palace from the rear garden. This sketch (detail) shows what appears to be a three to five bayed terrace in the East Wing of Sundari Cok. Inscribed on reverse: “Rajah Sidhi Nur Singh’s tank and Summer House, in the Garden at the rear of the Darbar, Patan—constructed AD 16 7.” Drawing by Henry Ambrose Oldfield, ca. 1853.

British Library, London (Oriental and India Office Collection)

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is gone. The upper two floors were not pointed with cement and thus retain some mud mortar.

The building has no plinth and rests instead on the ground plane of the rear garden area.

Proposed Restoration The existing bricks on the faรงade wall will be preserved and reused wherever possible. Since parts of the ground floor wall require new bricks, several wall sections will be dismantled and reconstructed with both existing and

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salvaged ma apa bricks in mud mortar.

Areas with cement mortar will be re-pointed with traditional yellow mud mortar. Severely damaged and missing bricks will be replaced with salvaged bricks matching the surrounding brick size and coursing.

A new stone plinth has been designed to provide a continuous base around the entire building, as is typical in Newar architecture.

December 2013

Sundari Cok Ground floor and first floor plans, scale ca. 1:200 CAD presentation by Anil asukala, 2008, on the basis of measured drawings by Hans j nness and his team, 1995.

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Sundari Cok View of the east fa ade from the rear garden near handarkhal Tank. Due to the shortage of funds and building materials, regular bricks were used and simple windows installed.

The smaller building to the left is an addition dating to the 1970s when the east wing was used as a temporary jail.

Photo by Stanisław Klimek, 2008

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Sundari Cok Design for the east wing’s facade facing east, presented by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust in December 2013 as the outcome of a five-year long debate.

The roofscape is restored to its presumed 18th century shape, the ground floor facing bricks are replaced while on the first and second floors the brickwork is simply repaired. The window frames are repaired, and the openings closed by a wooden grill.

A plinth is added at the base of the wall.

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Sundari Cok The courtyard facade of the east wing. The brickwork of the first floor had partially been replaced ca. 1936. The projecting balcony had collapsed in 1934, and the latticework was replaced ca. 1936.

Photograph by Stanislaw Klimek, August 2008

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Sundari Cok The central window of the east wing’s courtyard facade is stored on the ground floor and awaits repair and reconstitution.

Photo Raju Roka, September 2015.

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Sundari Cok The brickwork of the east wing's ground floor facade facing east had eroded to a large extent. Replacement using mud mortar started in October 2013. The newly installed 18th-century doorway had been recovered from the eastern facade of Mulcok, northern end and relocated to serve as the principal entrance of the courtyard from the area of the handarkhal tank.

Photograph by Raju Roka, November 1, 2013

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Sundari Cok The brickwork of the east wing’s ground floor facade facing east had eroded to a large extent. Replacement using mud mortar started in October 2013.

Photograph by Raju Roka, November 16, 2013

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Sundari Cok The east wing collapsed almost in total in the 25 April 2015 earthquake.

Photograph by Rohit Ranjitkar, April 27, 2015

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Sundari Cok The east wing’s courtyard facade after the earthquake. The ground floor with its two doorways and the central arcade remained intact. The first floor’s central part with a large window and two small ones collapsed in the eastern direction, leaving almost no debris in the courtyard.

Photograph by Rohit Ranjitkar, April 27, 2015.

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Sundari Cok East wing, east fa ade, before rebuilding.

Photo by Ashesh Rajbansh, November 18, 2015

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Sundari Cok Courtyard, view towards east wing, before rebuilding.

Photo by Ashesh Rajbansh, November 18, 2015

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Sundari Cok The Patan Royal Palace Conservation Project 2006–2014 Within the context of the Patan Royal Palace Conservation Project, established by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust in 2006, the southernmost of the sequence of palace courtyards, Sundari Cok, (also written “Chowk” in colloquial Nepali) was studied for a period of three years. A Historic Structures Report was presented after three years of investigations by Liz Newman and Lumanti Joshi in 2009.

Implementation started in 2009 on the northern wing in order to remove the roof which had, probably since the 1930’s, covered both the southern wing of Mulcok and the northern wing of Sundari Cok. The individual roofs were restored to their original configuration with a rafter spacing and a layer of roof tiles in conformity with the norms of Newar Architecture. The restoration / rehabilitation of the west wing followed in 2010, funded mainly by the World Monument und (New ork). The ivory window is replicated by a team of the University of Applied Art (Vienna) since 2012 and will be installed in September 2016. In May 2010, work started also at the east wing in the context of excavations to allow water again to feed Tusha Hiti. The Hiti was restored by the team of the University of Applied Art (Vienna) in summer 2010, and the face of veneer bricks of the ground floor arcade was renewed.

The south wing had been restored in 2012 with funds from the German Embassy. This allowed to finally regain the first floor space which was appropriated by the neighboring shops.

Lack of funds stopped restoration of the east wing, which was planned for 2013. The replacement of parts of the much eroded ground floor wall, however, was initiated in October 2013. unding did not improve in 201 . A small contribution by the German Embassy, granted in October 201 ,allowed the plinth to be restored and the 370

pavement to be replaced in the area between the east wing and the handarkhal tank. In early 2015 funds to continue the restoration of the east wing were not in sight. he earthquake The earthquake caused the total collapse of the upper two storeys of the east wing’s rear facade, and the central portions of the first and second storeys of the quadrangle’s facade. The eastern end of the south wing’s courtyard facade was slightly distorted and the ground floor wall of the facade facing the square was bulging at its northern end.

The fragments of the first floor windows could easily be salvaged and stored at the courtyard’s arcades.

Rebuilding Seed money for immediate rebuilding was granted by the German Embassy in early October 2015. Rebuilding started immediately by relaying the foundations of the outer (eastern) wall in mud mortar, completing the ground floor walls with regular bricks (māapā) on the outside and veneer bricks for the arcade. Vertical timber posts, wrapped in sheet copper, were integrated into the wall to increase seismic safety. At half of the height of the first floor, construction was stopped at the end of December in anticipation of a further grant.

A second substantial grant was provided by the German Embassy in ebruary 2016 with the requirement to complete the rebuilding by the end of the year. Work was resumed in early March, the first floor courtyard windows were relocated in June, the wall plates of the top floor were in place in July, and the projecting balcony with its latticed frames in early August. The timber roof will be completed in early October, the roofing in November and the interior work in December.

Sundari Cok The ground floor of the east wing’s facade facing south in the process of rebuilding with newly fired regular bricks (māapā). The wall is strengthened by timber posts encased in sheet copper (top left).

Photographs by Niels Gutschow, November 23, 2015

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Sundari Cok Wall plates are being installed atop the east wing’s second floor. The wall plates receive a bitumen-based layer to be protected against the mud mortar of the brickwork. The newly introduced vertical timber on the inner faces of the two walls extend beyond the layer of the wall plates.

Photographs Anil Basukala, May 3 and 4, 2016

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Sundari Cok The cornice of the projecting balcony that encircles the entire quadrangle is installed above the joists.

Photographs by Anil Basukala, June 23 and 24, 2016.

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Sundari Cok East facade of the courtyard; carpenters from ungamati are engaged in restoring the latticework of the second floor’s projecting balcony.

Photographs by Anil Basukala, May 23 and 25, 2016

Opposite Sundari Cok East facade of the courtyard; the restored central window of the projecting balcony.

Photograph by Ashesh Rajbansh, August 30, 2016

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Sundari Cok East wing, installation of the roof level timbers, with joists resting on the wall plates, and a base on the center to support the pillars with their capital-brackets and the ridge beam on top.

Photographs by Anil Basukala, June 15 and 16, 2016

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Sundari Cok East wing, the ridge beam is in place, a final touch is given to the top of the outer wall.

Photograph by Anil Basukala, June 24, 2016

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Sundari Cok Top The earthquake caused the bulging of the northern end of the wall facing the Darbar Square. The facing layer of veneer bricks (dÁci apÁ) was removed and carefully used to restore the wall, using yellow mud for the joints.

Photographs by Anil Basukala, July 10 and 12, 2016

ottom The proposed vertical grill of the window openings is tried out on the first floor’s window opening at the northern end.

Photographs by Anil Basukala, June 7, 2016

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Sundari Cok East wing, courtyard facade; the first floor face of veneer bricks is cleaned, hairline joints are checked.

Photograph by Anil Basukala, July 14, 2016

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Taleju Agam North (Mul Cok, Patan Royal Palace Complex)

History and Description of Taleju Agams North and South Emergency Repairs after 2011 Earthquake Post-2015-Earthquake Project (Liz Newman)

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Taleju Agam North

By Liz Newman

History and Description of Taleju Agams (North and South) The Taleju Agam North (1671) and Taleju Agam South (1666) are two of the three remaining primary agam (rooftop temples) of the Patan Royal Palace Complex, along with the larger Degutale Temple (b. 1661) to the north of Mul Cok. Unlike the temples throughout the adjacent Patan Darbar Square, which stand on stepped plinths built at grade level, these agam are built atop courtyard palaces and above Patan’s roofscape, examples of the “floating” temple design that is unique to Newar architecture.

It was under the patronage of the Malla kings that the craftsmanship of the Kathmandu Valley flourished, making Patan’s Taleju temples a historic and artistic testament to the five and a half century rule of the Mallas. All three of the Patan Palace temples are dedicated to the Goddess Taleju, the tutelary deity of the Malla kings. Royal temples dedicated to this lineage deity of the Malla kings were erected in all three Darbar Squares of the Kathmandu Valley.

During the great earthquake of 1934, all of the royal palace temples in Patan were severely damaged, and among the Taleju temples only these three were restored. One of the notable losses which appears in a number of historic photographs is what is today known as the “lost agam of Mul Cok,” which rose from the north wing of Mul Cok, near the square, and appears to have been joined at an upper level to the adjacent Degu Taleju temple to the north. Even today the configuration of this area suggests there is a missing piece.

North Taleju is one of the finest examples of a wellproportioned, triple-tiered brick and timber agam of the

Malla period (1200-1769 CE). It was built atop the northeast corner of Mulcok palace and consecrated by King Srinivas Malla in 1671. It occupies a prominent position and is equal in both religious and artistic significance to the Valley's larger Taleju temples. North Taleju features unusual, exquisite, carved timber struts representing tantric deities such as the bhairavs and the matrikas. Taleju Agam South was likewise built by Srinivasammalla and consecrated by him in 1666. Although it is the smallest of the three surviving Taleju temples, the Taleju Agam South nonetheless occupies a prominent position and is equal in significance to the larger Taleju temples.

In Newar architecture, the uppermost roof of every tiered temple is covered with gilded metal sheets and crowned with a gilded copper pinnacle (gajura). The gilded pinnacle atop the North Taleju is particularly significant as it is sculpted in the shape of a temple built in the sikhara style, and is larger and more complex than that of the Taleju Agam South. The rafters of the temple’s uppermost roof are joined to a central timber king post (baymvah or galathan). This central post provides the crucial support structure for the pinnacle. The king post starts at the upper level brick core and extends through the roof and into the pinnacle.

(KVPT's application of October 2013 to the Sumitomo Foundation for restoration of the Taleju Agam South pinnacle informed this history, and is a source for further information on pinnacles in Patan Darbar and in Newar architecture in general.)

The Taleju Agams North and South continue to this day to be used for religious and ritual events, which are overseen by local resident priests. During the October Dashain festival, Nepal’s most celebrated holiday, both Agams house the deity of Taleju—patron goddess of the Malla Dynasty. As a result, the North and South Taleju agam are the hub of Dashain ritual activities in Patan each year.

Opposite Taleju Agam North and South above Patan Palace rooftops, view looking North.

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Top left Mul Chowk west facade with the North Taleju in the background.

The agam elegantly floats behind Mul Cok’s main entryway off of Patan’s Durbar Square. The smaller temple in the foreground is now called the “Lost Agam of Mul Cok”, as it was destroyed in the 1934 earthquake and was never rebuilt.

Photograph by Perceval Landon, 1924

Top right Taleju Temples in Axonometric View of the Palace Complex: This sketch shows the graceful octagonal and winged shape of Taleju Agam North’s roof tiers, and the temple’s orientation above the north wing of the courtyard building. The large temple at left is Degu Taleju, and the smaller Taleju Agam South at right completes the trio of remaining rooftop temples at the Royal Palace.

Survey by the Nippon Institute of Technology, December, 1977

Bottom Remnants of Taleju Agam North after the 1934 earthquake. This photograph vividly documents the devastation the 1934 earthquake wrought upon the Patan Royal Palace Complex. The remnants of the Taleju North agam rise in the background (center left), while the Degu Taleju temple in the foreground collapsed completely.

Photograph circa 1934

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Taleju Agam North seen from Mul Cok Courtyard, 2012

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Taleju Agam North Projects by the Trust since 2011 Damage in the September 2011 Earthquake Before KVPT was involved with the Patan Palace, the Taleju Agams North and South had been partially restored in joint UNESCO/Nepal Department of Archaeology projects in 2000-2001. In 2007, KVPT’s first estimate was that in the Patan Royal Palace Conservation and Restoration project, the North Taleju Agam would

Left Crack on interior north wall. This large crack was present before the September 2011 earthquake, but grew in width to as much as 8 cm in the earthquake as the two walls moved farther apart.

November 2011

Right Detail of crack on the west-facing exterior facade of Taleju North Gallery. This severe crack on the exterior of the building was present prior to the earthquake, and was likely the result of a lack of proper wall joining techniques. This detail shows the gaps that had opened further—up to 10 cm—after the September 2011 earthquake, requiring immediate attention.

November 2011

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require only seismic strengthening and minor repairs.

However, closer inspection of North Taleju after the 6.8 magnitude earthquake of September 18, 2011 and the lesser tremors that followed soon after revealed that the agam had been so severely compromised that stabilization and seismic strengthening were required on an emergency basis. Existing structural cracks in walls and between masonry and timber door and window frames had widened significantly, one of the roofs was separating from the wall, and rotting timbers were exposed in a number of locations. Without these problems being addressed, the agam would not be able to survive the next major earthquake.

Top Left Door and window frame weakening: This detail of a timber window frame separated from the surrounding brick wall showed the poor condition of the temple’s timber elements, which suffered from rot due to water leakage and were structurally compromised.

November 2011

Top Right Joists in taleju tower roof were rotten and poorly spaced and had to be removed. The Trust replaced them with new joists in the correct historical configuration.

Rohit Ranjitkar, May 2015

Bottom Left Weight redistribution: This photo shows the sagging of Taleju’s lower level roof beams, which had become too weak to bear the load of the agam above. The Trust recommended introducing additional support beams to safely transfer the weight to the structure below.

November 2011

Bottom Right Emergency shoring. The Trust rapidly installed emergency vertical timbers to support the floor of Taleju’s shrine room above. The implementation of a sound structural strengthening system was imperative and urgent, as the floors could no longer withstand any seismic movement.

November 2011

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Emergency Measures by KVPT Following the September 2011 Earthquake KVPT applied in November 2011 to the Cultural Emergency Response Fund of the Prince Claus Fund, which agreed to support a program of seismic strengthening and other repairs to the agam that was undertaken immediately and was completed by October 2012.

The scope for this project included a number of KVPT’s typical repairs and minor seismic strengthening measures. Notably, it also included three structural measures that were designed specifically for the Taleju Agam North.

Opposite The third level gallery interior after construction. Note new timber posts, beam, and rafters.to the right and overhead, as well assalvaged historic carved columns at the left, outside the sanctum, to support the new beam.

2012

Below right Rebuilding of third floor roof structure: After rafter installation, eaves boards were fitted with through mortise and tenon joints.

Traditionally in Newar architecture, timber pegs are used to secure the rafters to the eaves beams; here, rafters were also pinned with stainless steel rods.

2012

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Typical KVPT scope items for this type of construction which were used at Taleju North included: . replacement of rotted timbers such as joists, rafters, and wall plates; . repairs to timber doors and windows; .rebuilding of severely damaged brick masonry walls; . the addition of planking above floor joists and marine grade plywood above roof planking . covering both of these with a waterproofing membrane to brace, unify, and waterproof the structure before relaying floor or roof tiles on the traditional heavy mud mortar beds; and , installation of a concealed drainage system.

Additional damage was identified once the priests of the agam allowed the structural engineer access to the inner sanctum, resulting in the decision to rebuild the roof at the sanctum level to tie it structurally to the inner walls, incorporating plywood into the roof assembly; and to rebuild significant areas of masonry.

The photograph of the gallery on the opposite page shows the careful design and installation of this last measure at the gallery outside the sanctum, whose historic doorway ensemble is visible in the brick wall at the left. Salvaged

historic carved timber columns were added next to the existing columns to double the support structure outside the sanctum without disturbing the historic configuration. These columns support a new beam above the doorway which in turn supports the new rafters of the gallery roof. A similar doubling was created at the simpler outer wall using uncarved columns. These measures (working together with (2) below) allowed the new roof structure to be tied directly to the cornice embedded in the walls of the sanctum, unifying the structural elements of the third level.

The three site-specific seismic additions, described in detail on the following pages, were: 1) The introduction of diagonal steel members into the ceiling structure at the gallery level to create a Warren truss configuration for horizontal bracing; 2) a force-fit transition between the sanctum level cornice and the adjacent roof structure; and 3) the installation of four interior timber A-frame braces around the walls of the fourth level (just above the top of the Mul Cok roof). These designs are described on the following pages and, in more technical detail, in the chapter above on Seismic Strengthening of Historic Newar Buildings.

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Top Taleju Agam North/Mul Cok North Wing Gallery - Plan drawing detailing the design of the diagonal cross bracing system, at the ceiling joist level above the gallery space of Mul Cok’s north wing.

Matthias Beckh for KVPT, 2012

Bottom Left The east end of the Mul Cok North Wing Gallery level after the installation of steel angle cross bracing.

Diagonal braces effectively tie the horizontal timber beams together, creating a much stiffer structure similar to a Warren truss.

October 2012

Middle Right Mul Cok North Wing Gallery level roof cross bracing showing the connection of steel braces to original timber trusses by means of steel gusset plates and bolts.

October 2012

Bottom Right Layout of framing members for North Taleju tower in Mul Cok courtyard (compare to plan drawing opposite).

KVPT, 2015

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Top Taleju Agam North/Mul Cok North Wing Gallery - Detail drawing showing the design of steel plates connecting new diagonal steel braces to the existing timber beams. The introduction of these steel braces created a rigid diaphragm which resists movement during an earthquake.

Above Southeast exterior corner of inner sanctum after rebuilding of walls and roof. Roof rafters are all connected to the new timber cross beam, which is connected to the inner sanctum’s cornice, uniting components of the third level.

September 2012

Left New timber columns and beams around the inner sanctum are positioned to allow beams to be joined directly to the historic wooden cornice, tying the roof structure to the inner sanctum walls.

2012

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Top Thumbnail of the full Taleju North building section, including the timber A-frame design. This drawing shows how the A-frame’s strategic placement in the fourth level was designed to support the weight of the roof tiers above.

2012

Bottom Detail of the timber A-frames at the fourth level, seen on the design section drawing for Taleju Agam North. These braces were designed to support the overstressed and sagging timber beams that bear the load of the upper levels. This provide a direct connection down to the fourth floor level, strengthening the load path and adding stiffness to resist seismic movement.

2012

Opposite Timber A-frame as installed at the west end of the fourth level, Taleju Temple North. A similar A-frame was installed at each of the four sides.

September 2012

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Right Detail of the displaced top roof with scaffolding being installed to begin repair work.

Photo mid-2015

2015 Earthquake Damage to Taleju Agam North Thanks to these repairs, the Taleju Agam North survived the magnitude 7.8 earthquake of April 25, 2015 and the tremors that followed, but it still suffered extensive damages at the unrepaired upper levels. The two topmost roofs of the four-tiered temple were left structurally unstable and in danger of collapse. Further assessment revealed that the brick masonry on these two stories was cracked and in poor condition and timber elements were already decaying. The sculptural pinnacle, made using the traditional metal repoussĂŠ technique, had already been damaged by numerous small earthquakes, exposure to the elements, and years of neglect, and was threatened by collapse even before the 2015 earthquake. The supporting columns of the gilded pinnacle gave way this time, and the entire upper level of Taleju North tipped to the side, nearly crashing down on the Mul Cok palace below.

Funding for Post-Earthquake Work

Opposite The top roof tilted onto the roof tier below during the April 25th earthquake, causing considerable damage to the lower roofs. ca. April 26 2015

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KVPT received funding from several sources for the post-2015 earthquake repairs to the North Taleju. The Sumitomo Foundation supported the structural rehabilitation, extensive cleaning, and repair of the gilded pinnacle and gilded top roof, and the fourth tier roof.

The goal was to restore this distinctive feature of Patan Darbar’s temple-dotted skyline to its original beauty.

The Ambassadors’ Fund for Cultural Preservation (the largest funder of the Patan Royal Palace Project) and the Prince Claus Fund pledged support for the Taleju Agam North after the earthquake and again stepped up to provide further support when closer study revealed the need to replace parts of the copper pinnacle and repair additional masonry damage to the upper walls of the agam.

Rebuilding of the Upper Levels of the Agam It was ultimately decided that the scope of repairs would include dismantling and rebuilding the top two stories

of the temple. Scaffolding at the two upper floors was provided, and dismantling work started with the removal of the pinnacle. The upper brick walls were dismantled, and the related timber framing, - eaves, rafters, figurative struts of the hanging eaves, - and roof tiles were removed.

Rebuilding started from the fourth floor (directly above the main shrine). New timber elements included cross beams, upright posts, lintels and sill beams to replace old decayed members. Brick masonry with traditional mud mortar was laid using traditional techniques.

To ensure the stability of the roofs, the lower ends of the timber struts, which were shorter in length than needed, were replaced by new timber elements while keeping as much of the original timber as possible. The eaves boards were reconstructed using traditional methods and materials.

Stainless steel plates were used where necessary to connect the timber framework to the rafters. The blind windows, some of which were reassembled by local wood carvers, were anchored to the brick masonry with steel rods to ensure better stability.

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Top Elements of the dismantled dome and temples of the gajura sheltered in the Mul Cok courtyard below, awaiting restoration.

Above The copper elements of the pinnacle after reassembly. This close observation of the pinnacle revealed poor quality earlier repairs which will now be corrected as part of the restoration of the pinnacle.

Above right Careful dismantling underway on site at the damaged North Taleju pinnacle, following the earthquake.

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The original struts supporting the topmost roof were also reinstalled, together with the timber roof framing.

The assembly of the roof, including a new king post to hold the pinnacle, was complete by May 2016.

During the cleaning and reassembling of the pinnacle (gajura), an inscription dating to 1753 was found on thc copper at the pinnacle base. Also discovered were copper replacement pieces from the 1950's, under King Mahendra, that followed the existing shapes of the gajura but had simplified, incorrect details. The restoration presents an opportunity to improve on these earlier repairs.

As of late August 2016, the coppersmiths, who were

restoring the Yoganarendra pillar sculpture, expected to return to the gajura in the fall, replicating existing original details to replace missing or incorrect pieces, and complete the reinstallation of the gajura (and with it the entire North Taleju post-earthquake project) by November of 2016.

During post-earthquake observations conducted by structural engineer Evan Speer, it was noted that some details of pre-2015 strengthening measures should be adapted to be more successful and to fully implement their original design intent. These alterations are being addressed as construction continues.

The two upper stories of Taleju North were dismantled to address deteriorated timber elements and structural cracks in brick walls.

Top Dismantiling of the upper tier roof structure.

KVPT, 2015

Bottom North Taleju seen from the Mul Cok courtyard after dismantling of the upper tier roof and upper walls of the tower.

KVPT, 2015

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Above Workers carefully clean the upper tier roof struts in the palace gardens after dismantling of the upper level of the tower.

Top Left Strut with new timber joined to the lower end (designed for assembly within wall, historically left uncarved).

Top Right Back (upper) face of repaired strut showing joinery detail.

Bottom Left Steel plates are used to connect the rafters with the timber wall plates.

Traditional yellow mud mortar is used for brick masonry.

Bottom Right The rebuilding of the upper tier is carried out using traditional techniques and materials along with concealed steel seismic rreinforcing.

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Top Reinstallation of traditional windows in reconstructed wall. Stainless steel rods anchor the windows to the brick wall.

Left Completed assembly of roof timbers, including king post

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Top Left Planking, marine grade plywood, and waterproofing membrane cover and brace the roof structure. Wood battens are installed in preparation for copper roofing.

July, 2016

Top Right Carpenter and metal craftsman install wood runners on the top roof.

Coppersmith lays and reassembles existing gilded metal sheets including copper eave corners.

July, 2016

Bottom Left To allow the historic gilded copper to be retained, new sheet copper roofing panels, overlapping historic copper corner eave, will in turn be covered by the damaged, gilded historic copper sheet roof panels, which cnnot be repaired.

July, 2016

Bottom Right New sheeet copper is installed with screws on the top tier roof before the reinstallation of existing historic gilded copper sheets.

July, 2016

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Taleju North Agam after postearthquake repairs, complete except for the restoration and reinstallation of the copper pinnacle.

11 September 2016

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Taleju Agam South (Mul Cok, Patan Royal Palace Complex)

History and Agam Description Pre-2015-Earthquake KVPT Project 2015 Earthquake Damage Post-2015-Earthquake KVPT Project (Liz Newman)

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Taleju Agam South Pre-earthquake project, earthquake damage, and KVPT post-earthquake project

By Liz Newman

History of the agam and summary of KVPT projects The history of theTaleju Agam South is similar to and included in the history of the Taleju Agam North in the preceding chapter.

Also referred to as South Taleju, the tower, which rises above and intersects Mul Cok South Wing and Sundari Cok North Wing, underwent significant repairs and restoration and had seismic strengthening installed by the Trust as part of the Patan Royal Palace Complex Restoration Project between 2013 and early 2015. Funding support came from the Prince Claus Fund (Netherlands) and the Ambassadors’ Fund for Cultural Preservation (US State Department).

In 2013, the agam was structurally unstable and in poor condition, and its gilded sikhara-style sculptural pinnacle was leaking and in an advanced state of disrepair, threatening collapse. As a part of the Patan Palace project, the Taleju Agam South was repaired, restored, and reinforced by KVPT. Deteriorated roofing assemblies and the gilt copper pinnacle were restored and repaired; brick walls were repointed; uncarved structural timbers were replaced, struts were cleaned; and seismic strengthening measures at and just above the Mul Cok roof were implemented. By February 2015, the agam project was completed, scaffolding had been removed, and only the reinstallation of roofing below the scaffolding remained.

Six weeks later, on April 25, 2015, the Taleju Agam South survived the earthquake that struck the Kathmandu Valley completely intact, with the exception of the part of the agam above the middle roof - the upper cornice and uppermost roof tier and pinnacle, - which fell

off as a unit and landed wedged into the space between the roofs of Mul Cok and Sundari Cok, causing minor roof damage as it fell.

The Ambassadors’ Fund for Cultural Preservation responded rapidly after the earthquake with support for repair and reinstallation of the fallen pieces and roof repairs below. Post-earthquake repairs to the Taleju Agam South and related roofing repairs below were completed

by KVPT in late August 2016.

Existing conditions in 2013: .Disrepair and leaking of gilded copper pinnacle (gajura), including poor previous repairs such as non-matching replacement colonnettes and rotting of wood substrate . Top and middle roofs were structurally unsound due to rotting and generally poor condition of all rafters and wall plates. . Poor roofing conditions on all three roof levels, damaged terra cotta roof tiles (jhingati), severe deterioration and leaking of bituminous membrane . Poor condition of mud pointing mortar at Mul Cok roof level and just above . Structural instability of lower walls at/ just above the level of the Mul Cok south wing roof (The roofs of Sundari Cok north wing and Mul Cok south wing, which had been awkwardly joined to cover the passage between the two buildings, were reconfigured during the palace project to again be separated, changing the support to the agam.)

Repairs and Restoration by KVPT, 2013-2015 The scope of repairs for the initial project included the following: Roofs: Complete dismantling and rebuilding of all three roofs. All rotten rafters (about 50%) and wall plates were replaced. Rotten planking was replaced (100%) and a layer of marine grade plywood was introduced on top of the planking for bracing. A new waterproof membrane and traditional mud bed were installed and cov-

Opposite Taleju Agam South, view from the west across Patan Darbar Square..

Photo by Raju Roka, February 27 2015

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Left Taleju Agam South before restoration and seismic strengthening project.

KVPT, January 2011

Right Extensive scaffolding was built with a pipe ladder running up to each of the temple’s three roofs.-lower, middle, and upper. Lower and middle roofs have traditional terra cotta tile (jhingati). Upper tier roofing is sheet copper with battens.

KVPT, March 6, 2014

ered with traditional terra cotta tiles (jhingati), of which about 50% were replacedments. The roof structure of the third tier was reconstructed using newly fabricated rafters, wall plates, and purlins. All of the existing rafters were too damaged to be reused and were not original.

The fabrication of new rafters also allowed for an easy adjustment to raise the roof to its original 28-degree pitch. This decision was based not only on aesthetics but also on returning to the original configuration, whose increased roof pitch reduces the chance of water infiltration.

The number of rafters was increased from 24 to 32 to achieve the traditional, closely spaced rafter assembly.

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Central and corner rafters were made from Sal (Shorea robusta) wood, a locally available hardwood that is traditionally preferred for its strength and durability. Pine was used for the common rafters. The existing timber collar, which was badly affected by wet rot, was replaced with a newly fabricated hardwood collar.

Copper roof and pinnacle: During the restoration. the Trust discovered that the gilt copper sheets covering the timber structure of the pinnacle were heavily damaged, with a number of cracks and holes. Rather than restore and re-gild as was originally planned, the Trust decided to preserve the existing historical patina of the metal sheets, since any restoration effort would have risked

Left and Right Taleju Agam South roofing is removed at all three tiers in preparation for the start of restoration work.

KVPT, February 25 (left) and May 07 (right), 2014

damaging the gilt surface. In order to prevent water infiltration, an additional protective sheet copper layer was added between the timber structure and the gilt sheet.

The strategy for the gilt copper repousse pinnacle (gajura) was to install new copper replicas of the pinnacle base covering over the new wood substrate to ensure waterproofing, and reinstall the historic repaired copper over these. In this way, the worn historic material was retained while the integrity of the roof and pinnacle wasreestablished.

Rafters, wall plates, and other uncarved wood elements: After the dismantling and inspecting the struc-

ture’s existing conditions, it was evident that damages to the timber structure were more severe and extensive than initially anticipated. Sound elements were reinstalled while rotten pieces were replaced in kind. The wood pinnacle base was replaced. Rafters were also bolted to wall plates with stainless steel fasteners to increase seismic strength. (See seismic strengthening notes below.)

Historic carved wood elementsRemoval and cleaning of Wood Struts: Carved timber struts of the first and second tiers were removed, cleaned, and reinstalled in their original locations. As per the project proposal, no changes were made to the existing col407

lection of struts except for cleaning. This included several carved struts from the 17th century and six uncarved struts that had been installed to replace stolen struts in 1994.

tionally is created only with timber pegs. The addition of the steel bolts will prevent the potential separation of the joint during future seismic movement and improve the overall rigidity of the structure.

Cleaning of Carved Wood Cornices: Carved cornices are embedded in the brick wall and were able to be cleaned in situ, with few repairs.

Strengthening connections between rafters and wall plates: In traditional structures the rafters are not notched to the wall plates. 3/8” stainless steel pins were placed to improve the structural stability of the roof frame and wall plate connections. This measure will firmly pin the rafter to the plate and thus prevent any sliding movement of the rafters, especially during an earthquake.

Removal of debris and pigeon nests Several pigeon nests were discovered behind the struts of the top tier, accompanied by large quantities of pigeon droppings. The nests and droppings were removed, along with a large amount of other debris causing excess load in the top tier.

Brick walls: The exterior brick walls of the tower were cleaned. Below the lower roof, walls with pointing in poor condition were repointed with traditional mud mortar, retaining the existing bricks, with minor repairs.

The existing void below the pinnacle was filled with solid brick masonry to increase stability at the top of the tower.

Seismic strengthening Steel beams bracing south wall: Horizontal steel beams below the Mul Cok south wing roof were introduced to brace the south wall of the tower. Inside the agam, steel cross bracing was installed at the level of the door (just above the Mul Cok south wing roof) per the attached sketch.

It should be noted that the repairs described above, especially the replacement of rotting structural wood, contributed significantly to the agam’s ability to resist the earthquake.

Strengthening connections of rafters to purlins: Halfinch thick galvanized steel bolts were installed to strongly connect rafters and purlins, a connection which tradi408

Reinforcement of corner lap joints The corner lap joint of the wall plates is not sufficient to bear the load of the corner strut. To prevent failure of the structure a 2” wide x 3/16” thick steel plate was attached at each corner joint, improving the strength of the joint and allowing an even distribution of forces. (Similar details are described and illustrated in the chapter above, “Typical Seismic Issues in Newar Architecture.”

General Repairs: Other repairs to waterproof the pinnacle and roofs contribute to future seismic strength by making the wood structure and brick walls below more durable.

Top Left and Right Existing poor condition of gilded pinnacle and top tier copper roofing. Pinnacle is heavily damaged, with copper worn and and leaking; copper roof has open joints.

KVPT, April 3, 2014

Bottom Left and Right The top tier metal roof, including the gilded pinnacle, was completely dismantled for reconstruction and repair. Nearly 75% of the structural timbers were affected by dry rot and in need of replacement.

KVPT, April 04 and 22, 2014

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Top Left and Right Fabrication and installation of upper roof tier wall plates and rafters.

KVPT, April 24 and 27, 2014.

Middle Left and Right Central and corner rafters (sal wood) are joined to the purlins using traditional timber pegs. For additional strength, every 4th rafter is bolted to the purlins below using ½� galvanized steel bolts.

KVPT, April 28 and 30, 2014

Bottom Left and Right Top tier roof during reconstruction.

Sal wood planking is laid over the rafters, a new layer of marine grade plywood is introduced over the planking for increased watertightness and bracing, and new copper sheets are installed over the plywood for waterproofing protection.

KVPT, May 18 and Sept 4, 2014.

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Historic gilded copper sheet is laid over the new copper and the repaired gilded pinnacle is installed.

KVPT, September 04 and 05, 2014.

At lower right, a view of top tier roof after restoration

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Top Left and Right The carved middle roof struts are carefully removed and cleaned with water and mild soap.

KVPT, March 2014

Bottom Row Two carved struts of the second tier before and after cleaning on the ground. The scope for all of the existing struts was limited to dismantling, cleaning, removal of paint, and reinstallation.

KVPT, March 2014

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Top Left and Right Deteriorated waterproof membrane is removed and marine grade plywood is laid over the planking.

KVPT, November 11 and 12, 2014

Middle Left and Right Roofing installation at lower roof.

Planking, marine grade plywood, and waterproofing membrane are in place, and battens have been installed to hold the mud mortar bed.

KVPT, November 20 and 21, 2014

Bottom Left and Right Roof mason Awale lays traditional jhingati roof tile in the yellow mud bed. At right, the lower two roofs are seen after the laying of tradtional terra cotta tile (jhingati).

KVPT, November 17 and 20, 2014

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Seismic Strengthening/ Structural improvements Top left View looking west through Mulcok south wing (1935 east wall of Sundari Cok is at left). This photograph, taken during the reconstruction of the south wing of Mulcok, shows masonry core and load-bearing system of timber columns and joists supporting the temple.

KVPT, June 2010

Top Right South Taleju upper roofs, seen from below, before the 2011 earthquake.

Rohit Ranjitkar, Feb 1 2010

Bottom left As an emergency stabilization measure, steel I-Sections and new timber tie-beams were added to existing ceiling joists to strengthen and increase the rigidity of this crucial support structure.

KVPT, December 2013

Bottom right Completed installation of steel angle bracing inside South Taleju Temple at Level 3. This new cross bracing is used to create a reinforcing box, or “core,� as a seismic stabilization measure.

November 27, 2014

Opposite page South Taleju after restoration, looking east.

KVPT, August 10, 2016

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Top South Taleju tower above Mul Cok courtyard immediately after the 2015 earthquake, as seen looking south from Mul Cok’s north wing roof. Roof tile removed for the earlier project was yet to be reinstalled on Mul Cok south wing roof, which suffered minor damage when the gajura and upper roof fell and were wedged between Mul Cok and Sundari Cok roofs. The top tier is visible in this photo to the right of the tower, with the gajura stepped base resting on the Mul Cok south wing roof.

KVPT, April, 2015

Bottom South Taleju tower (at right) with damaged top tier, with the fallen top tier roof resting in front of the tower on the Mul Cok roof below, shortly after the April 25, 2015 earthquake. The damage to the North Taleju tower can be seen at the upper left in this photo.

KVPT, April, 2015

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Repairs after the 2015 Earthquake The structure of the fallen upper roof remained intact when it fell, landing astride the roofs of Sundari Cok North Wing and Mul Cok South Wing. The repair scope was to first lower the fallen pieces to the ground and store them inside pending restoration and reinstallation at the top of the rooftop temple. Once damage was repaired, the agam was reinstalled, and roofing below which was damaged by the fall of the top tier, or removed for scaffolding installation, was repaired or replaced. Because there was an open permit for construction on the agam, the slow bureacracy was avoided and the entire project was completed less than a year and a half after the earthquake. This might seem to be a long time out of context; but in the post-earthquake Kathmandu Valley, it was completed before it was even possible to obtain permits for new preservation projects.

Top Left The top tier roof of South Taleju Tower, which, thanks to earlier repairs, fell off in one piece in the April 25, 2015 earthquake, seen resting where it landed on the roof sof Mul Cok’s South Wing and Sundari Cok’s North Wing below..

KVPT, mid-2015

Top Right Preparation for lowering the fallen upper roof tier of South Taleju Tower from its post-earthquake position on Mul Cok’s south wing roof to the ground.

KVPT, mid-2015

Bottom Left The pinnacle (gajura) and its base from South Taleju Tower, along with gilded copper sheets from the upper roof, in storage within Sundari Cok awaiting repairs and restoration.

KVPT, 2015

Bottom Right Restored South Taleju tower pinnacle (gajura) on display in the Mul Cok north dalan while awaiting reinstallation.

KVPT, 2015

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Top Left South Taleju Tower after restoration of top roof tier. Upper scaffolding is being removed for the next phase of work. Sundari Cok East Wing can be seen in the foreground under restoration. As seen from the Bhandarkhal Tank.

July, 2016

Top Right South Taleju agam with Top tier roof restoration complete, with scaffolding partially dismantled to allow for work on the middle roof.

Seen from North Taleju Temple.

July 03, 2016

Bottom Left Middle tier roof waterproof membrane has been laid over marine grade plywood, wooden battens are installed, and laying of mud bed and clay tiles is in progress.

July 17, 2016

Bottom Right Finishing the setting of the traditional jhingati clay roof tiles into the yellow mud bed on the middle tier roof.

July 18, 2016

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The South Taleju tower after completion of post-earthquake repairs, with scaffolding removed, as seen from KVPT’s office across Patan Darbar Square.

Photograph Liz Newman August 27, 2016

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Lion Pillar of Bhimsen Temple (Singha Stambha) (Raju Roka)

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Lion Pillar of Bhimsen Temple (Singha Stambha)

Lion Pillar of Bhimsen Temple after restoration and reinstallation.

Raju Roka

Photograph Raju Roka, April 26, 2016

The stone pillar in front of Bhimsen Temple was built in Nepal Sambat 827 (1708 CE) in the reign of King Shree Tin Indra Malla. This gilded lion statue on top of a stone pillar in front of Bhimsen Temple in Patan Darbar was destroyed in the devastating earthquake of April 25, 2015. The stone pillar was broken into three pieces, with the lower part of the pillar remaining standing.

The broken parts of the stone pillar were restored (joined together) by the experts of the University of Applied Arts, Vienna with stainless steel rods in August 2015.

Newar stonemasons, metal craftsmen, and laborers restored the repaired stone and copper parts to their original positions on April 24, 2016.

We believe that this project by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust was the first monument restoration in Nepal after the devastating earthquake of April 25, 2015.

The very next day, on April 25, 2016, Mr. Puspa Kamal Dahal (the present Prime Minister) inaugurated the reconstruction of monuments in a ceremony a few meters from the Lion Pillar by laying bricks for the foundation of the South Manimandapa.

Opposite Lion Pillar of Bhimsen Temple after the earthquake.

Photograph Suresh Lakhe, April 25, 2015

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Lion Pillar of Bhimsen Temple Work by the team of the University of Applied Arts, Vienna during, and after repair of the broken pillar by inserting stainless steel pins.

Photographs University of Applied Arts, August 2015

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Lion Pillar of Bhimsen Temple The repaired stone pillar and gilded lion were reinstalled by erecting the pillar and resetting the lion on top in their historic configuration.

Photographs Raju Roka, April 24, 2016

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Appendices Introduction Notes on Post-Earthquake Approvals Processes, Guidelines and Manual (Erich Theophile) Appendix I Monument Preservation and Rebuilding Manual In Response to the April 25, 2015 Gorkha Earthquake (Rohit Ranjitkar) Appendix II Basic Guidelines for the Preservation and Rebuilding of Monuments Damaged by the Earthquake, 2072 (2016) (Issued by the Government of Nepal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Department of Archaeology March 2016 and Translated from Nepali by Hikmat Khadka with the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust)

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Notes on Post-Earthquake Approval Processes, Guidelines and Manual

Department of Archaeology- Guidelines and Illustrated Manual

Erich Theophile

Rohit Ranjitkar was invited to serve on an expert committee advising the DoA on post-earthquake guidelines for preservation and was able to enrich the discussion and the official approved draft (June 2016).

The Approval Processes With numerous post-earthquake rebuilding project applications under review, the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust could be considered one of the “first cars in the train” attempting to start actual rebuilding work requiring the consensus of the Department of Archaeology (DoA) and the newly-active National Reconstruction Authority (NRA). The process is painfully slow, and KVPT is fortunate to have a number of rescue and repair operations underway at Patan Darbar to keep our staff and work crews busy. The greatest challenges are the technical details of seismic strengthening related to the use of modern materials like steel and reinforced concrete. As additional actors and agencies come on the scene to work in 2017, all proposing the industry standards of reinforced concrete and steel reinforcements to complement historical structures, it it conceivable that these questions will become less controversial.

When one considers the potential for additional actors and agencies on the scene, is important to point out that to keep KVPT’s official government status, approximately two man months of time are required per year just to follow and chase the official paperwork. In the big picture, such complexities, paperwork, procedures, and unintentional obstacles created by the Social Welfare Council, the Ministry of Culture, and the Department of Archaeology create a significant amount of overhead for a small organization. As the bureaucracy tries to increase the number of actors by tendering bids for outside private consultants to design and execute conservation/ restoration projects, the necessary overhead costs and unpredictable delays may eliminate many contenders. It is hard to make money in the restoring of historic structures in Nepal—better to do it for love.

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One critical and useful point the new draft explains is that while traditional materials are desirable, each historic structure must be examined for its own conditions and characteristics and may require exceptional measures for its preservation. (NRA 2016 Guidelines, Section 12b: “Use of Non-traditional Construction Material and Technology: If in the course of restoration and rebuilding of a particular monument it is deemed that the use of traditional construction material and traditional technology cannot reduce seismic risk from a technical perspective, non-traditional construction materials and technology may be used, with prior approval from the Department of Archaeology, in order to rebuild a fully collapsed monument, in a manner that the non-traditional materials are not visible from outside.”)

As the only member on that committee with extensive hands-on experience on historic buildings, and with a library of KVPT’s architectural solutions, Ranjitkar developed and contributed the illustrated manual (Appendix I, following these notes) which was adopted by the DoA, to share KVPT’s techniques for seismic strengthening.

KVPT furthermore commissioned and supported the following professional translation of the Guidelines into English from Nepali (Appendix II), in order to open up discussion and review.

Appendix I

(Rohit Ranjitkar)

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Appendix II Basic Guidelines for the Preservation and Rebuilding of Monuments Damaged by the Earthquake, 2072 (2016) Issued by the Government of Nepal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Department of Archaeology March 2016 Translated from Nepali by Hikmat Khadka with the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust May 2016 (KVPT note: The committee that drafted this document included Bhim Nepal, retired archaeologist, and Rohit Ranjitkar, Nepal Program Director for KVPT. This information did not appear in the original or in KVPT’s translation as issued for general use.)

Preamble The 7.6 Magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25, 2015 and the several aftershocks that followed caused great damage to life and property in various parts of Central Nepal. This devastating earthquake claimed the lives of almost 8,900 people and injured about 22,000.

Likewise, hundreds of thousands of private and public structures have been fully damaged, while hundreds of thousands of structures have sustained partial damage.

The devastating earthquake also caused great damage to many of our historical and cultural heritage sites. According to the Department of Archaeology’s damage assessment report, over a thousand monuments, including those in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur,

Nuwakot, and Gorkha, have been damaged. Among them, the monuments in the Kathmandu Valley, which are listed as World Heritage Sites, sustained the most damage. About 90 per cent of the monuments in the Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square either fully or partly collapsed, while some are fully cracked. About 140 monuments, including Kasthamandap and Dharahara, which hold special significance, fully collapsed. The earthquake caused irreparable damage to many monuments that were built by our ancestors and stood as symbols of Nepal’s pride. At the same time, it had a huge impact on the tourism industry, the backbone of Nepal’s economy.

Therefore, it is not only necessary but also mandatory to restore and reconstruct such damaged monuments in their original appearance, size, and type.

The rebuilding and restoration of historical monuments differs from other new and modern construction, and it is of a specific nature. Such monuments must be restored and reconstructed on the basis of established national and international principles, norms, values, and philosophy relating to the preservation of historical monuments.

Additionally, as most of the damaged monuments are classified as Cultural World Heritage Sites, the World Heritage Convention and the provisions of its implementation guidelines cannot be undermined. Neither can rebuilding and restoration occur by undermining the qualities and special features that prove the unparalleled significance of such monuments and monument sites and their authenticity. However, it is important to bear in mind that Nepal is a seismically vulnerable zone, where there will be frequent earthquakes. At the same time, it is also true that our historical heritage is living cultural heritage. Daily worship takes place at our temples, where devotees throng, and thousands of pilgrims gather there during fairs and festivals. Temples such as the Pashupati Nath receive hundreds of thousands of devotees during festivals. Likewise, several of our historical structures host the offices and museums belonging to the Government of Nepal.

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After the massive April 25 earthquake, a lesson that this generation learned, or an important realization that emerged for them from that experience, pertains to human safety. In other words, saving human life as soon as an earthquake hits is top priority. What is also true is that earthquakes do not kill people; rather, our weaker structures collapse due to the shock, leading to human casualties. Therefore, there is a common voice among the general public, experts, and policymakers that the structures to be constructed, reconstructed, repaired from now onward need to be earthquake-resistant, or they should be the type that reduce seismic risk. Government policy and programming, too, has placed a special emphasis on the terms ‘earthquake-resistance’ in the context of constructing structures. It is only too obvious that this generation, which experienced the trauma of the earthquake, has initiated a debate on the construction of earthquake-resistant structures and seismic risk reduction. This debate is also strong in the context of restoration and rebuilding of monuments.

Monuments are important because of their art and architecture. They are also important from the perspective of their construction technology. As construction technology and art creation technology are an important genre of intangible cultural heritage, they cannot be changed in the name of constructing and restoring earthquakeresistant structures. The purpose of preservation is also to continue traditional construction technology. In this context, special arrangements need to be made with regard to the restoration and rebuilding of monuments damaged by the earthquake.

As the Ancient Monument Conservation Procedure, 2064 (2006), currently under implementation, does not seem to be adequate to address all the questions that have emerged after the earthquake, a need was felt for a separate set of guidelines for the rebuilding and restoration of the monuments damaged by the earthquake. As a result, the Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Government of Nepal has 454

formulated and implemented the Basic Guidelines for the Preservation and Rebuilding of Monuments Damaged by the Earthquake, 2072 (2016).

1. Title and Commencement (a) The name of this set of guidelines shall be Basic Guidelines for the Preservation and Rebuilding of Monuments Damaged by the Earthquake, 2072 (2016). (b) This set of guidelines shall come into force effective from the date of approval by the Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Government of Nepal.

2. Definitions Classified Monuments are monuments classified into grades A, B, C, and D by the Department of Archaeology, based on the monuments’ significance and ownership, in accordance with the provisions contained in the Ancient Monument Preservation Act. Non-classified Monuments are monuments that have not been classified in accordance with the provisions contained in the Ancient Monument Preservation Act. Rehabilitation is the overall process that brings monuments to reuse through continuation of the monuments’ originality and physical-cultural significance and living character, in compliance with all methods and procedures of preservation.

Renovation is the act or process of bringing monuments to reuse through partial rebuilding or complete maintenance, restoration, etc., of structures that are weakened because they have been damaged by a natural disaster, or they have grown old, or fallen apart for other reasons, based on the evidence available.

Retrofitting refers to the structural improvement meas-

ures taken to maintain or enhance the strength of a structure if it is felt, from an engineering perspective, that the strength of that structure has been reduced.

Strengthening is the process to take any additional measures in order to maintain or improve the strength of a structure.

Stabilization refers to the measures taken in order to prevent a structure, which is about to fall or collapse due to various reasons, from falling or collapsing. These measures could be either temporary or permanent.

Rebuilding is the act of constructing a new structure, generally upward from the foundation, using traditional materials and technology, preserving the original appearance, size, type, and composition of a structure that has collapsed because of a natural calamity or other reasons, based on the evidence available.

Restoration is the work done to maintain a structure that has been damaged due to various reasons, or has deteriorated due to old age, through the use of traditional materials and technology, preserving its original appearance, size, type, and composition, based on the evidence available. Renovation also refers to partial rebuilding.

Rescue Archaeology is an archaeological activity that is carried out immediately before a monument’s rebuilding work begins. Generally, this activity needs to be completed rapidly within a specific period of time.

Periodic Maintenance refers to the work done to maintain a structure’s strength, including through restoration and maintenance of weak parts and objects from time to time, through the use and utilization of traditional construction materials and technology, after conducting a routine observation of the monument to gather information about its physical condition.

Reversible Technology is employed when traditional construction materials and technology are not adequate to restore or rebuild a monument in a manner that it is maintained in its original form, and its strength is re-

tained. If that is the case, non-traditional construction materials and technologies may have to be used, more out of compulsion. The nature of such construction materials and technology should be such that they can be changed or replaced in the future.

Intervention refers to all activities, including preservation, conducted by a relevant agency or official, pursuant to the prevailing law, in order to protect and prevent a monument, which for some reason has been damaged or is about to be damaged, from sustaining further damage.

Authenticity refers to original values, norms, specialty, character, style, quality, etc., inherent in any object or structure, which enjoy historical recognition, and which are acceptable on a social and scientific basis.

Structural Integrity refers to the ability of a structure to bear the overall load of all of its parts in an integrated manner, without breaking or bending anything.

3. Classification of Heritage (a) For the purposes of these Guidelines, physical-cultural heritage has been classified into three types: (1) Heritage Site, (2) Monument, and (3) Object. (b) In accordance with the provisions contained in the Ancient Monument Preservation Act, these Guidelines shall address both classified and non-classified monuments.

4. Areas to be Addressed by the Guidelines Although these Guidelines shall especially address the issue of immovable physical cultural heritage, the related moveable physical cultural heritage is also included generally, according to the context.

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Part 1: General Provisions 5. Authority and Responsibility As per the Ancient Monument Preservation Act, 2013 (1956), classified monuments fall under the direct jurisdiction of the Department of Archaeology. Subject to Nepal’s prevailing laws, the Department of Archaeology may give approval to collaborate with other national agencies or reputable national and international institutions or individuals for restoration and rebuilding or for carrying out that task. However, all tasks shall be carried out in compliance with relevant Acts, Rules, and the Procedures relating to these Guidelines, under the supervision of the Department of Archaeology.

6. Resource Management The Department of Archaeology shall receive and manage all forms of assistance, including financial, technical, and other miscellaneous assistance, meant for the renovation, preservation, and rebuilding of monuments, in accordance with the prevailing law. The Department of Archaeology shall maintain a proper documentation of the resources allocated for every heritage site, monument, and object.

7. Damage Assessment In the course of restoring and rebuilding the memorials damaged by the earthquake, an assessment of the damage caused by the earthquake to the heritage site or objects, and to their importance, art, and architecture should be made. The nature of damage should also be assessed. Additionally, the impact on the living culture of religious cultural heritage should also be assessed.

8. Restoration Priority In the course of restoring and rebuilding the memorials damaged by the earthquake, priority should be given to the restoration of severely damaged monuments.

9. Documentation It is mandatory to prepare a detailed documentation 456

of monuments and objects to be restored or rebuilt, in an identifiable manner. Damaged monuments, certain parts of monuments, and objects should be documented in written form, or through the media of photography, visually, sketch, and drawing, in a manner that the monuments’ dimensions, size, and type are established clearly.

10. Renovation and Rebuilding of Monuments to be Based on Available Evidence The renovation and rebuilding of the monuments damaged by the earthquake should be carried out based on the evidence that is obtained or available. Renovation and rebuilding may not be carried out based on conjecture.

11. Preservation Action Plan Any outline and plan of action for preservation work to be carried out in the context of heritage sites, monuments, and objects should be prepared on the basis of detailed research and study and assessment of preservation work carried out during various times in the past.

12. Preservation of Traditional Material and Technology (a) Traditional construction materials should be used, and traditional construction technology and norms adopted, for the restoration and rebuilding of all types of monuments. If in the past irrelevant or non-traditional materials, construction technology, and norms happened to be used for the restoration or rebuilding of a particular monument, the error can be rectified, based on the evidence available, in the course of the current restoration or renovation. (b) Use of Non-traditional Construction Material and Technology: If in the course of restoration and rebuilding of a particular monument it is deemed that the use of traditional construction material and traditional technology cannot reduce seismic risk from a technical perspective, non-traditional construction materials and

technology may be used, with prior approval from the Department of Archaeology, in order to rebuild a fully collapsed monument, in a manner that the non-traditional materials are not visible from outside. Taking into consideration the nature, condition, form, composition and importance of the monument to be restored and rebuilt, the Department of Archaeology may or may not give approval to carry out such a task. Moreover, the construction materials or technology used for such restoration and renovation should be reversible in nature, except in the case of special circumstances. A believable and reliable technical report must be prepared to justify the reason for the need to use non-traditional construction materials and technology in such a manner. It is mandatory to include the report in a file relating to the rebuilding of the monument in question.

13. Participation of Local Residents As local residents are the guardians of a monument, their participation shall be ensured at various stages of rebuilding and restoration of damaged monuments.

14. Clarity of Ownership The legal, historic, and cultural ownership of historical or cultural monuments shall be made clear, and all stakeholders, including heritage owners, shall be included in the process of implementation.

15. Observation, Upkeep, and Periodic Maintenance (a) Special attention should be paid to the upkeep and periodic maintenance of historical monuments so that they become long lasting. Also, special attention shall be paid to any long-term impacts that a particular intervention could have on the structure. (b) A provision shall be made to conduct a periodic observation of the structural physical condition of historical buildings and monuments. (c) The responsibility for conducting regular observation in the format specified by the Department of Archaeology and carrying out periodic maintenance shall

be assigned to certain stakeholders, heritage owners, or site managers. Arrangements for the periodic maintenance of classified monuments shall be made based on the regular observation report and in coordination with the Department of Archaeology. (d) Just as there is a traditional guthi system in place for temples, arrangements shall be made for a necessary trust to be set up, to the extent possible, for the purposes of maintenance (of monuments).

16. Disaster Management In the context of restoration and rebuilding of heritage sites, monuments, and objects, the management of disasters, including earthquake, flooding, land erosion, fire, and lightning, will be taken into consideration, and the necessary caution shall be taken against such disasters.

17. Heritage Impact Assessment Prior to beginning any type of development and construction activity at a monument, monument area, or archaeological site, an assessment of the direct or indirect impact that such an activity could have on the heritage site, monument, or on the objects’ value, form, etc. should be carried out using the format prescribed by the Department of Archaeology. Also, the potential impact on living culture of the monuments and monument areas shall be carried out.

18. Preservation and Continuation of Living Heritage Monuments and historical buildings are a living heritage. The intangible heritage attached to the monuments gives monuments a life, while monuments also provide an appropriate background for the staging and expression of living heritage. Therefore, while restoring or rebuilding historical monuments, arrangements should be made to implement and continue intangible heritage, preserving the traditions, rituals, or norms and values attached to such monuments.

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19. Traditional Practices and Commencement Rituals The damage that the earthquake has caused to religious structures has especially had a profound effect on the communities’ traditions. In such situations, it is usually found that traditional practices and religious commencement rituals, including forgiveness-worship, are performed before the restoration and rebuilding work kicks off. As such practices and commencement rituals make monuments lively from a cultural and religious perspective, traditional practices and commencement rituals must be organized while carrying out the work of restoration and rebuilding, and coordination efforts must be made in order for that to happen.

20. Traditional Purpose and New Use of Monuments (a) Generally, the continuation of the traditional use and purpose of the monuments to be restored and rebuilt shall be encouraged. However, in the case of monuments whose original purpose has fallen into disuse, they may be utilized for newer purposes, in agreement with relevant stakeholders, ensuring that the appearance, size, type, composition, and architectural exterior of those monuments is not affected in any way. (b) In the context of monuments where a community is involved in the use and maintenance of the structure, preservation work shall be carried out through the provision of necessary support for the activities of that community. (c) In the case of monuments that have lost their original use, they may be used for a new and appropriate purpose for income generation, ensuring that this does not adversely affect their original use.

21. Installation of Modern Service Mechanisms (a) Modern services, including electricity and water supply, together with burglar and fire alarms, may be installed in the historical buildings that continue to be used to this day or those that have been put to newer use.

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(b) Modern equipment shall be installed at the various types of historic buildings, based on their vulnerability and usage, following the prescribed standards to ensure that the monuments’ authenticity and originality, together with its external appearance and location, is not affected in any way.

22. Availability and Quality of Materials (a) Special attention shall be paid to the smooth availability and quality of traditional/non-traditional construction materials necessary for the rebuilding and restoration of damaged monuments. (b) The Department of Archaeology shall play a coordination role in order to facilitate the supply of essential construction materials. (c) Quality of Timber – Timber that is crack-free, mature, smooth, hard, dense, granular, less damp, and less flexible should be used. Likewise, timber with joints and palāns (leaves?) may not be used. Timber that needs to bear load, be carved with patterns, remain open in outdoor settings, and that needs to be used in a location where it will become wet with rainwater, should come from a sāl tree. In locations that will not get wet with rainwater, other good quality timber may be used. Only pure Nepali timber should be used.

23. Availability of Artisans and Training (a) Top priority shall be given to according the highest level of respect to senior artisans with traditional skill and expertise and training new artisans. (b) It should be ensured that work is carried out by good, expert, and experienced artisans or that it is carried out under the surveillance of such artisans.

24. Supervision and Quality Control (a) The tasks relating to preservation, restoration, and rebuilding shall be carried out as prescribed by the

Guidelines, using good quality materials, and maintaining the quality of work. (b) Arrangements shall be made for the supervision and monitoring of restoration, rebuilding, and preservation, and standards and procedures shall be determined for this task.

25. Research Study In the process of restoration and rebuilding of damaged monuments, it is required that a scientific research study is conducted on the surrounding area, foundation, the structural construction technology of the various parts, styles and types of traditional structures, the structures’ load bearing and load transfer technology, etc. Likewise, it is required that a scientific and technical research study is conducted on the traditional technology that can reduce seismic risk.

Part 2: Guidelines for Heritage Sites 26. Definition of Heritage Site Heritage sites refer to legally declared ‘preserved monument areas,’ ‘archaeological sites,’ and ‘world heritage sites.’ They also refer to potential monument areas, heritage sites, archaeological sites, etc.

27. Preservation and Management of Historical Settlements Special arrangements shall be made for the preservation and management of historical settlements damaged by the earthquake.

28. Damage Assessment of Heritage Sites (a) While assessing the damage within the preserved monument area damaged by the earthquake, the overall effect on the classified monuments and heritage objects contained in such an area should be observed. This should cover open spaces, natural landscape, and the composition of historical settlements. (b) Archaeological sites refer to excavated areas or areas with a potential for archaeological investigation.

While assessing the damage to such sites, the effect on the designated area as well as on the overall environment around it should be observed. (c) While assessing the damage to historical settlements, attention should be paid to the effect on the settlements’ structure, open spaces, monuments and their composition.

29. Preservation of Heritage Sites (a) In the context of not just a handful of monuments but monument areas and historical sites that have been severely damaged by the earthquake, their physical, social, and cultural aspects shall be analyzed and assessed, and a rehabilitation master plan shall be prepared, as necessary. (b) Initiatives shall be taken to immediately implement 459

the activities prescribed by the rehabilitation master plan. (c) Archaeological sites shall be protected from encroachment, and necessary intervention plans shall be made for immediate or long-term preservation. As necessary, ‘archaeological rescue investigation’ activities shall also be conducted.

Part 3: Guidelines for Graded Monuments 30. Definition of Monuments Monuments shall not be addressed separately, but they shall be addressed as defined by the Ancient Monument Preservation Act. These monuments comprise those that fall under the Department of Archaeology’s classified monuments and monuments that are likely to fall under such classification.

31. Nature of Damage to Monuments Based on the nature of damage, damaged monuments have been categorized into three groups: (1) Fully collapsed monuments, (2) severely/partially damaged monuments, and (3) ordinarily damaged monuments.

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(c) The rebuilding of monuments should be carried out in a manner that the original composition, appearance, size and type is preserved. Traditional images, creation, composition, and technology should be preserved to the extent possible. The reuse of all parts whose physical condition is good is mandatory. (d) Where sufficient proof has not been obtained, no rebuilding task may be conducted just based on conjecture. In the case of parts, the proof of whose original carving or sculpture cannot be obtained because they are lost or damaged, uncarved elements resembling the original size, type and quality should be used. No sculptures of gods and goddesses, or other images, may be carved based on conjecture. (e) Where sufficient proof is available and the new intervention is not going to affect the structural integrity of a historical building, such a historical building may be built in the same style as before. (f) If some parts of a monument need to be replaced, they may be replaced with new materials which, based on the proof available, have the same quality, physical composition, and artwork of the original material.

32. Interventions for Fully Collapsed Monuments (a) The rebuilding of fully collapsed monuments should be carried out on the basis of documentation prepared after a study and thorough research on the evidence obtained and documents available.

(g) The original structural specialty of a monument should be preserved. Improvements may be made to it only if it is shown to be necessary. If new materials need to be used and a proven technique is used, such materials should be non-intrusive and reversible in nature.

(b) Archaeological rescue investigation or excavation may be performed, as necessary, at locations where monuments have been fully collapsed, in order to obtain information about those the historic and ancient aspects of such monuments, and to establish those locations’ construction phases and cultural sequence. This task should be carried out with mandatory approval and direction from the Department of Archeology.

(h) To the extent possible, the foundation of a monument should be left as is, and improvements may be to it only if it is shown to be necessary.

33. Interventions for Severely and Partially Damaged Monuments (a) A monument that is in need of a major intervention because its structural integrity is affected can be perceived as a severely and partially damaged monument.

(b) While assessing the damage to a severely and partially damaged monument, an assessment should be made to see which particular parts of that monument can be retained. The decision regarding whether or not such parts can be retained should be made on the basis of a scientific and technical study, research and test of the structure and materials. (c) A detailed documentation that includes photographs, diagrams, drawings, notes, remarks, etc. of the parts of severely and partially damaged structures which need to be demolished should be prepared prior to demolishing them. (d) While renovating a damaged structure, it should be done in a manner that most of its usual parts can be retained as before. If under special circumstances new materials should be used while restoring such monuments, special attention should be paid to ensure that such materials are reversible in nature. (e) If the physical condition of a monument is too deteriorated and the remaining parts cannot be preserved and retained, such a monument may be demolished and rebuilt. Should this be the case, a detailed technical report containing an evidential basis for the reason to demolish the monument should be prepared and submitted to the Department of Archaeology, and it is mandatory to obtain approval from the Department of Archaeology to demolish such a monument. (f) Where it is proved even by scientific and technical test as well as study and research conclusions that a severely and partially damaged monument cannot be renovated or reconstructed at its usual location, sufficient proof and basis for the transfer of that monument should be presented to the Department of Archaeology.

If granted approval by the Department of Archaeology, such a monument may be rebuilt in a certain nearby and appropriate location, in agreement with the local community and all relevant stakeholders, and in accordance

with these Guidelines, ensuring that its original appearance and style is preserved.

34. Preservation of Ordinarily Damaged Monuments (a) Monuments whose structural integrity has not deteriorated and that are only in need of ordinary intervention should be perceived as ordinarily damaged monuments. (b) Ordinarily damaged monuments should be repaired using materials that have same quality, physical composition, and artwork as the original material.

Part 4: Guidelines for Objects 35. Definition of Object A moveable object or architectural element which, despite its attachment to a heritage site or monument, has its own independent existence, should be perceived as an object. Such an object could be an important part of a monument, or it could be individual works of art at a heritage site. The relationship between an object and its original location should be made clear in one way or another.

36. Object Damage Assessment While assessing the damage caused by the earthquake to a moveable object, attention should be paid to its physical condition, original location, and whether their relationship with such an object remains intact, and whether its original purpose is still served. Also, the object’s interrelationship with the heritage site, monument, or living tradition should be taken into consideration.

37. Object Preservation Management (a) Appropriate and reliable arrangements should be made for the preservation, security and storage of important moveable elements of a damaged monument.

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(b) The objects displaced from their original location should be reestablished at their respective original locations. But if it is proved that the displaced objects are subjected to lack of security, or that they have lost their original purpose, they may be put on display at a different location in such a manner that their relationship with main location is expressed.

these Guidelines and the Manual included herewith.

B. Provision relating to the Amendment of Guidelines – These Guidelines may be amended from time to time, based on the experience gathered in the process of restoration and rebuilding of damaged monuments, and in such a manner that the main spirit of these Guidelines is not affected.

(c) In the context of objects that have lost their important purpose from a physical or cultural perspective, they may be replaced only if there is no other alternative.

Such objects can be kept safely and put on display at an appropriate location with an indication of their relationship with their original locations.

C. Procedures may be Devised – The Department of Archaeology may devise other procedures and implementation methodologies, as necessary, under these Guidelines, in order for the effective implementation of these Guidelines, and to expand on the things contained in these Guidelines.

Part 5: Non-classified Monuments (a) The restoration and rebuilding of damaged nonclassified monuments may generally be carried out in accordance with these Guidelines’ ‘General Provisions’ and the Guidelines (Manual?) for the Restoration and Rebuilding of classified Monuments. However, it shall not be obligatory to implement all provisions word for word. (b) Other things relating to the restoration and rebuilding and management of damaged non-classified monuments shall be as per the decision of the Department of Archaeology, in coordination with the stakeholders.

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D. Preservation, Restoration, and Rebuilding Manual – “Basic Manual for the Preservation and Rebuilding of Monuments Damaged by the Earthquake – 2072 (2016)” has been formulated for the effective implementation of these Guidelines and to clarify the technical aspects contained in the Guidelines. The Manual is included herewith.

E. The Department of Archaeology’s Decision Shall Apply – In the case of issues that are missing in these Guidelines, or that these Guidelines have not been able to address, the decision of the Department of Archeology shall apply.

Part 6: Miscellaneous

F. These Guidelines Shall Apply – If the things contained in these Guidelines contradict other standards, procedures, etc., these Guidelines shall apply. In such a case, the Department of Archeology might also make a special decision.

A. To be done as per Guidelines – The Department of Archaeology itself and other institutions, with approval from, in coordination or collaboration with the Department of Archaeology, shall carry out the tasks relating to the preservation, restoration, and rebuilding of monuments damaged by the earthquake in accordance with

G. May set up an Expert Committee – It is possible that these Guidelines may not address all types of problems and complexities that will emerge in the process of restoration and rebuilding of damaged monuments. Every monument may have a different and unique set of problems and complexities. In such a case, the Department

of Archaeology may set up a committee consisting of experts and specialists to provide expert advice and recommendations to institutions, including the Department of Archeology.

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Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust Mission Support Meet our Team Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign Donors

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Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust Mission The Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (KVPT) was founded in 1991 with the mission to safeguard the extraordinary and threatened architectural heritage of the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. The negative impact of today’s development pressures and the Valley’s seismic activity pose a threat not only to individual monuments but to the future of public space and urban life in the valley at large.

Over the past quarter-century, KVPT has saved over 55 historic buildings including temples, step-wells, monasteries, palaces, and homes, and has launched three major campaigns for preservation on an urban scale.

KVPT collaborates with community groups, local and international specialists, educational institutions, and the Department of Archaeology of the Government of Nepal. Restoration and conservation operations have initiated key research and training programs, and the KVPT office in Patan Darbar Square has become a resource center for architecture and urbanism in Nepal.

Support KVPT is the only international organization dedicated to architectural preservation in the Kathmandu Valley, and the only such agency registered with the Government of Nepal’s Social Welfare Council. Each project is executed

by KVPT on a turn-key basis in close partnership with the Department of Archaeology, the official agency for cultural heritage preservation. KVPT is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States, and donations are fully U.S. tax-deductible.

Most of KVPT’s projects rely on a combination of local and international funding including local community groups, individuals, and businesses in Nepal alongside international counterparts from Asia, Europe and the United States.

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KVPT Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign See our website (kvptnepal.org) and www.kvptearthquakeresponse.org for updates and information about how to support ongoing efforts, or contact us at: KVPT – NEPAL P.O. Box 13349 Kathmandu, Nepal Phone: +977 1 55 46 055 Email: info@kvptnepal.org KVPT – UNITED STATES 36 West 25th Street, 17th Floor New York, NY 10010, USA Phone: +1 212 727 0074 Email: info@kvptnepal.org Meet our team through photos and audio interviews at www.kvptstories.org

Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust Patan Darbār Earthquake Campaign Donors (list in formation September 1, 2016) Donors for each project are listed alphabetically.

North Taleju Temple Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development (Netherlands) Sumitomo Foundation (Japan) South Taleju Temple U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation Sundari Cok East Wing Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Germany Bahadur Shah and Mul Cok Roof Repairs at Patan Royal Palace Complex U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation South Manimaṇḍapa Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Germany Himal Initiative Deutschland e.V., Bamberg (Germany) Mangal Tol Sudhar Sangha The Embassy of Japan in Nepal Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development (Netherlands) South Asia Institute (SAI), Heidelberg (Germany) North Manimaṇḍapa Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Germany The Embassy of Japan in Nepal Vishveshvara Temple British Embassy, Kathmandu Global Heritage Fund (United States) The Embassy of Japan in Nepal Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development (Netherlands)

Char Narayana Temple Bonhams, New York (United States) The Embassy of Japan in Nepal John Eskenazi Foundation, London (United Kingdom) South Asia Institute (SAI), Heidelberg (Germany) World Monuments Fund (WMF) through support from American Express (United States) Krishna Mandir Gerda Henkel Foundation, Düsseldorf (Germany) The Embassy of Japan in Nepal Harishankara Temple Gerda Henkel Foundation, Düsseldorf (Germany) Lion Pillar University of Applied Arts, Vienna (Austria) Yoganarendra Malla Pillar University of Applied Arts, Vienna (Austria) Post-Earthquake Support for KVPT Neil Kreitman, Monomos Foundation Nick Simons Foundation Rubin-Ladd Foundation Mary S. Slusser Sarah Billinghurst Solomon Ivan Zimmerman University of Applied Arts, Vienna (Austria) Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Riksantikvaren), Oslo (Norway)

In appreciation for their enthusiastic support of the Campaign in Patan, Heidelberg, and New York: Christiane Brosius Kanak Mani Dixit Axel Michaels Pratima and Prithivi Pande and Susannah Robinson

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