Future Goals

Conservation & Restoration | Documentation Projects | Training Activities | Longterm Goals

(1) Kva Baha, the Golden Temple of Patan

The principal tower of Nepal's most venerable Buddhist monastery is at great risk. the timber structural core having been damaged by water seepage. emergency measures to seal the roof were undertaken by the Trust two years ago. The proposed project will undertake a comprehensive structural reconsolidation of the tower while incorporating state-of-the-art seismic strengthening measures.

(2) Thum Baha Narayan

This fine 16th century pagoda within the Patan Darbar Square World Heritage Site has been in ruins for the last decade. Conservation of this structure will complete the Trust's original five year goal to save nine Patan monuments which stood in ruins in 1992.

(3) Sulima Agam

This is the oldest surviving example of a building type, the esoteric shrine house or "agam", in Nepal. The restoration of this multi-storied pagoda structure will complement the adjacent Ratnesvara Mandir, the oldest pagoda in the Kathmandu Valley, currently under restoration by the Trust.

(4) Paltan Ghar

The disappearance of privately owned historical residences is one of the great losses of the moment---nearly impossible to control by legislation. Nevertheless, economically viable alternatives to dismantling can be demonstrated. Adaptive reuse of the "Soldier's House," one of Nepal's most significant residences at the heart of the old city, as an upscale commercial rental property is conceived as a model effort and precedent.

(5) Jyaba Bahi

Ownership disputes and misappropriations account for a large number of Nepal's monuments being at risk. Sometimes the only way to save a building is to buy it. This model effort proposes the acquisition of a threatened Buddhist quadrangle by a local Buddhist organization, the building to be maintained as a religious and historical monument.

(6) Pilgrims' houses of Kathmandu

Disappearance of what is perhaps Nepal's most endearing contribution to world architecture, the community sattal or resthouse, can only be stopped through strategies which link the threatened buildings with new uses, income generation and social prestige. A survey of resthouses completed by the Trust in 1994 has identified the ten most threatened and artistically important structures. Subsequent work will include lobbying and local negotiations, matching of donor groups and proposed activities, emergency building repairs, conservation building design, and implementation.

(7) Early Windows of Patan

As buildings are dismantled in the historic core areas, a fund is imperative to acquire historically significant windows, doors and building components for safeguarding the highest quality examples to be incorporated into the national museum system or for possible use in reconstruction of old houses within the World Heritage Sites in collaboration with His Majesty's Government Department of Archaeology.

(1) Architecture of Patan: An Inventory of Monuments and Documentary Book

Continued research and publication costs are needed to supplement three years completed work documentation the extraordinary world of monuments in Patan constructed from the 5th through the 20th century.

(2) Kathmandu: "A Windscreen Survey"

A thorough survey of the privately owned monuments of Kathmandu's historic core has never been undertaken. In the face of ongoing development and destruction, a survey is proposed before any further activities are planned.

(3) Neoclassical Nepal: Architecture of the 19th Century

Continued research and publication costs are needed to support a volume documenting an until now unrecognized layer of Nepal's monuments, the European influenced buildings of the Rana maharajas and their transformation of the local architectural vernacular between 1846 and 1951.

(4) Ongoing Emergency Response Documentation Activities  

(1) Expansion of training activities for Nepalese conservation professionals with the goal of providing opportunities in a long-term and personalized professional setting.

(2) Implementation of public awareness campaigns about historic preservation linked to individual threatened sites in Nepal.

(3) Organization of conferences on special issues in the conservation of South Asian monuments: relevant sub-topics include the regulation of "living" monuments, authenticity in the South Asian context, historic districts management in the third world and state-of-the-art seismic strengthening technology.

(1) Creation of an endowment insuring stability and longevity necessary to fulfill the mission of saving the most important and threatened historical structures.

(2) Expansion of documentation activities as a contribution to national preservation planning strategies, to record significant buildings which may be lost and to create publications to generate awareness as well as to inform the scholarly community.

(3) Training of a significant number of Nepalese professionals in all of the disciplines at the level of excellence required for international standard conservation architecture.

(4) Continued development of new models for intervention, implementation and funding.