Many of Kathmandu Valley’s most historically important buildings have been destroyed in the earthquake that struck on Saturday, killing more than 4,000 people. However, heritage experts say glimmers of hope remain.
The Dharahara, a 60m white minaret tower built in in 1832 has been destroyed, while the Kasthamandap, a three-story wooden temple in Durbar Square, has also been reduced to piles of wood and rubble.
“It is not as famous as the tower, but historically it is perhaps the most significant building in Kathmandu that has gone,” Michael Hutt, director of the South Asia Institute at SOAS and author of a book on the art and architecture of Kathmandu Valley, said of the Kasthamandapa, which gives the city its name.
Photo: EPA
Hutt said he was “in mourning” after spending the weekend following events on news Web sites and on Twitter.
“The first picture I saw was the Kathmandu Durbar Square and the first impression was one of total devastation,” he said.
Two of the square’s most imposing pagoda temples have also been destroyed, but as more pictures were posted online it became clear that some historic shrines and temples had survived the disaster.
Kathmandhu Valley has three main cities — Katmandhu, Patan and Bhaktapur — each built around rambling medieval palace complexes and each with a public square containing shrines and temples.
“You’ll have a square with 10 or 12 of these 17th-century structures and three or four of them will have collapsed completely, and a few of them will be badly damaged or cracked or the top finials will have fallen off but a number of them seem to be surviving. Looking at pictures of the main palace complexes, they’ve got bits fallen off and sections collapsed but, by and large, they have survived,” Hutt said.
It is too early to know the extent of the loss, though it would appear four of the seven UNESCO world heritage sites in the valley have been severely damaged.
However, experts are hopeful that some buildings can be restored and point to the example of the Dharahara Tower, reconstructed after earthquakes in 1833 and 1934.
As well as historic buildings, Kathmandu Valley has lost a lot of housing dating to medieval times, which is more difficult to replace.
“The damage and loss of life in the valley, even though it’s awful, is not quite the cataclysm some of us may have been fearing. It is dreadful, but Katmandhu Valley may have got off lightly,” Hutt said.
“Rebuilding is going to be a huge task. I hope to see it in my lifetime, but it is going to take a while, and that is assuming the funds are made available to Nepal, because Nepal does not have the money to do it by itself,” he said. “It is a desperate place politically: very fragile, poorly resourced and heavily dependent on international aid. The resources are not there to do this restoration work and they are going to need a lot of help.”
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