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

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. Bijay
Basukala 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 earthquake.
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. First, the triple stepped plinth has to be studied
before final decisions can be taken. For 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-
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