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

Investigation and Research of Krishna
Temple in Patan Darbar (2015–2016)
Inspection Team (Kolkata, India):
Neeta Das, conservation architect
(project head and co-coordinator)
Ramesh Bhole, conservation architect, (stone expert)
Sumanta Roy, Mascon (conservation contractor)
Pinaki Ghosh, Caltech (conservation engineer)
Condition Survey
Overview
The Krishna Temple (Kṛṣṇa Mandir) (Figs. 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 Bālagopāla, Kṛṣṇa’s form as
the youthful cowherd, was raised to the first level. The
temple was consecrated by King Siddhinarasimhmalla
on 23rd February, 1637.
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.
First floor
The first floor — the Visnu temple level — is worshiped
every day, morning and evening, by devotees and the
2
Elevation of
Krishna Mandir.
Source:
Niels Gutschow,
Architecture of the
Newars (...), Vol. II,
2011
Shikhara tower
with garbha griha
Second floor (Shiva
temple level)
First floor
(Visnu temple level)
Ground floor level
Plinth
1
Niels Gutschow, Architecture of the
Newars (...), Vol. II, 2011, 530f.
343