Old Kathmandu: Forgotten periphery

Krishna Bisunkhe has been running a shoeshop in this particular building for the last 30 years. The house—a hybrid of Newar and colonial architecture—is beautiful but neglected, to say the least. Its veranda has come off; white walls have been haphazardly plastered; wooden windows have disintegrated, and one of the corners has turned into a dumping site.[break] The building, which is across Tantra Restaurant in Paknajol, is one of the several old architectural signatures in the Kathmandu Valley taking the last breaths.

“It’s for sure that the owners are going to erect a new structure here. They are just waiting for it to fall apart,” adds a man from a shop nearby who stopped by to get some change from Bisunkhe.

Passing through such ornate houses and their intricate doors and windows send chills down the bones. But one is also left wondering whether the whole town awaits these buildings to disintegrate, leaving no choice but to replace them with concrete ones. The examples are aplenty down the lanes of Dilli Bazaar, Bange Muda or in any of those small lanes in Ason.

While such architectures belonging to different historical eras are scattered all over the Valley, the epicenter of major restoration works in Kathmandu seems to be concentrated on the seven United Nations Education Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites.

The key players

According to the Ancient Monument Preservation Act 1956’s description, all those monuments, including private and public buildings dating more than one hundred years old are considered to be “ancient.”

While places like Dubai has banned demolition of historical buildings constructed before the 1960s, Shanghai has enforced the law to protect the city’s fine building over 30 years old with historical and study values.

“Before the provision got discontinued, the Department had allocated 10% subsidy out of the total cost for the repairs made to such building,” informs Suresh Shrestha of the Department of Archeology (DOA). At present, the Department claims to be in the process of revising the subsidy rate. In the new provision, DOA plans to increase the subsidy.

The department, however, pitches no new story when it comes to informing the dateline for implementing the amended rule.

“It’s already been proposed. But with the new government taking over, one never knows,” says Shrestha.

When asked about whether any research has been conducted to inventory such old buildings that don’t fall under the premises of the world heritage sub-sites, Shrestha informs, “We’ve completed the 3-year plan to list down the historical sites of 72 districts. Its hard copy is yet to get published.”

He adds that Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur already have inventories but needs revision. “We have plans to update them with traditional architecture with equal historical importance,” says the officer. However, he failed to present the timeline.

The Preservation Act also authorizes the DOA as a principal government authority to protect and preserve the vast cultural heritage of the country. However, this 58-year-old institution’s regular complaint has been budget constraints when it comes to renovation and restoration works. For this fiscal year, the department has Rs 80 million (eight crores) in its share. “With this, we have to run seven offices that are in and out of the Valley,” informs Shrestha.

The officer points out that the department can’t shoulder the overall responsibility. “Local authorities like municipalities are also equal stakeholders in preserving and campaigning for it.”

The country is also yet to see the formulation of a cultural policy. “This will play more significant role to design projects for preservation, study and research,” Shrestha added.

Reality check

“Concrete buildings have superseded 50% of the traditional houses in the old settlements such as Gaa Bahal and Na:tole in Patan,” informs Raju Rokka of Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (KVPT), a trust working to safeguard and restore architectural heritage sites. However, a proper research is yet to be conducted.

Nevertheless, the aforementioned issue has not been the only concern. Adding a cemented floor on top of old traditional houses can be found throughout Kathmandu. “The laws prohibit such activity,” informs DOA officer Shrestha. “But we don’t have enough manpower to mobilize to monitor such activity or to tear down the illegal floors. We’ve to prioritize our work on the important sites.”

Nepal program director of KVPT Dr Rohit Ranjitkar estimates that the cost of rebuilding a house will exceed the cost of repairing an old one.

“It’s always better not to dismantle a traditional house because in that way one can keep the authentic historic elements intact.”

Ranjitkar informs that most of the neglected monuments also belong to those of the 19th century. “We have never considered them significant from the archeological point of view,” he explains.

An owner’s perspective

Another 20 years, and Subu Shrestha’s house in Thamel, which once housed Café Mitra, would have been enlisted as one of the “ancient monuments” if DOA would revise its inventory by then. That is, if the 80-year-old building was not brought down.

“It had survived the 1934 earthquake,” informs Shrestha. His decision to build a new house came along with the fragile condition of the house and the market value that the new building will have.

“It wasn’t that difficult to take care of and was almost maintenance-free. But one of the walls had developed a huge crack. It wasn’t safe anymore,” shares Shrestha.“The house has lived its life.”

It slightly shook whenever heavy vehicles passed by, and during rainy season the base got flooded, according to Shrestha. “As every other year the road was blacktopped, its height leveled up, dwarfing the house base, which made the rain water drain to the building.”

KVPT’s Ranjitkar observes that change is inevitable. “People will want to keep up with the modern times. And so was the case in every different era.”

However, according to him, Kathmandu is experiencing a new trend in the architectural scene. “A few years back, concrete buildings took over the traditional Newar houses. At present, people have started building traditional houses by incorporating details from different eras, which will mislead the coming generation of historians and documenters.” For this, Ranjitkar emphasizes on a proper documentation.

To quote from “Sacred Architecture” by Caroline Humphrey and Piers Vitebsky, “Every hut or temple is the result of thought, planning and devotion and that much of the fineness of sacred building is owed to anonymous craftspeople…”