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

ological Survey of India to restore the gardens, based
on miniatures, paintings and photographs dating as far
back as 1849. This implied removing earlier attempts at
restoration, and in 2003 water was brought back to the
garden after an interim of 400 years.
The restoration of the Tomb started in 2007 with the
removal of millions of kilos of cement concrete from
the roof of the structure, including the latest layer added
by the Archaeological Survey of India in 2004 (Fig.
19). Similarly, the plinth of the tomb, paved with large
stone blocks, was covered with cement concrete in the
late 1950s to level the ground. The project decided to
restore the original level; missing grey quartzite stone
blocks were replaced by those used as kerbstones on
Delhi roads. After much debate, including objections
by the Archaeological Survey of India which considered
the 20th century layer of concrete as authentic, 4,200
square meters of paving were restored. To “restore material
integrity”, the project removed all cement from walls
and floors and restored these with lime plaster and lime
concrete.
A major challenge was the restoration of the tilework of
the canopies. Four years of research and collaboration
with craftsmen from Uzbekistan in 2010 cleared the way
for the much contested restoration, which the project
considered equivalent to “a prominent intention of the
original builders”. There was no need to resort to conjecture
as the preserved tiles provided the necessary information
regarding size and color for the reproduction
of the missing tiles, which at one time had been replaced
by cement mortar.
In a recent summary the project architect Ratish Nanda
wrote: “In an attempt to overcome the inappropriate
attitudes evinced in preceding colonial and postcolonial
conservation efforts, recent restoration works aim
at reviving the original intentions of the builders, the
authenticity of the materials and crafts techniques used,
and the architectural integrity of the mausoleum. With a
special focus on analogy and material integrity, architectural
patterns have been restored on the basis of extant
sixteenth-century prototypes.” (Fig. 18)
Practices in Nepal: Maintenance, repair,
replacement and restoration (jirnoddhara)
A general review of replacement and rebuilding, 15th to
19th centuries
Almost nothing is known about the history of repairs,
restoration and replacement because serious research just
started little more than a generation ago. Take, for example,
the ongoing discussion about the origin and history
of the Kasthamandapa. Based on inscriptions and chronicles,
the large pillared hall-cum-shrine is often presented
as a 13th or 15th century building, but many repair
schemes, the most recent one carried out in 1966 as the
first major project guided by the Department of Archaeology,
have replaced and added a number of architectural
elements. Just recently, the American anthropologist and
art historian Mary Slusser dated the carved frieze of the
lower level balcony to the early 18th century, based on
stylistic comparisons. Similarly, the shape of the portals
of Kathmandu’s Taleju temple suggests a replacement in
the early 19th century, although to this day all cultural
historians date the temple to 1564. The great and most
ancient temples of Cangu Narayana and Pashupatinatha
were totally replaced in 1696 and 1708, leaving no
evidence of the previous structures. In all probability,
the thresholds of the Cangu temple were shortened to
allow rebuilding on a smaller scale. The carvings of that
temple demonstrate inferior craftsmanship and obviously
do not incorporate any element of the previous temple.
The collapse of the Kumbheshvara temple in 1808
represents an even more complex situation. Only a few
architectural elements date to the renewal of the temple
in the 1680s. For whatever reason, the thresholds in the
east-west direction were shortened and the lintels of the
portals simply cut to fit into the new configuration.
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