Sundari Chowk, Patan Palace Complex. The most beautiful and intact of Nepal’s historic courtyards.

Patan Royal Palace Campaign

The Trust's most ambitious restoration project to date started auspiciously with a fundraising campaign launch hosted by HRH The Prince of Wales at Clarence House, May 25th, 2006. Over the next 8 years the project will rehabilitate and restore this major World Heritage Site ensemble, including 3 courtyards and stone baths to serve as Nepal's Museum of Architecture and a satellite of the Nepal Architecture Archive, established at Harvard University in 2005. Major matching funds commitments by the Robert W. Wilson Challenge to Conserve our Heritage (World Monuments Fund), Ludwig Kuttner and Beatrix Ost, and Nepal Investment Bank Ltd. serve as springboards for ongoing fundraising. This year in support of the palace project Prithivi B. Pande, Executive Director of the Nepal Investment Bank organized a national marathon fundraiser successfully raising 2.5 million Nepalese Rupees and establishing a new benchmark in Nepalese fundraising and awareness.

Buddhist Kathmandu and Itum Baha

Over the past eight years the Trust has campaigned for and saved numerous early Buddhist structures in Kathmandu including the 11th century Yetkha Shrine and the 13th century Itum Monastery, included on the 2003 World Monuments Watch. Views of the monastery's roof-scape demonstrate how the structure has been rescued from ruin, while work continues on the last wing! The project was generously supported by the Robert W. Wilson Challenge to Conserve our Heritage (World Monuments Fund), the German Embassy, and the Itum community. This courtyard at Itum continues to play a role as a major center of Newar Buddhism as it has for the last 1000 years.

Itum Baha aerial view of the monastery complex, photos 2001 & 2007.

Internships and Research

Maike Voekel, a conservation student from the University of Potsdam, has recently completed a four month research and documentation project at KVPT exploring the timber conservation issues of the Patan Royal Palace Complex. One of the palace courtyards, Sundari Chowk, is considered one of the masterpieces of Nepalese woodcarving, largely intact and dating from the 17th century. Katharina Weiler, a dissertation student at the South Asia Institute/University of Heidelberg, continues her doctoral research about the development of European architectural language in the local residential architecture with a research grant from KVPT. Nutan Sharma, a Nepalese scholar working collaboratively with South Asia Institute, received support for his ongoing research about Patan thanks to a grant from Mary S. Slusser.

Kathmandu Darbar Initiative 2000 - 2007

The Trusts' major achievement of recent years not only restored eight significant structures at the heart of the Kathmandu World Heritage Site-but also catalyzed Nepal's first corporate campaign to support historic preservation under the leadership of Mr. Prabhakar S.J.B. Rana. This sustainable fundraising base not only powered through some of Nepal's most challenging years both politically and economically, but also allowed the project to expand its scope to restore 8 structures. The U.S. Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation, Kathmandu, emerged as a new and generous partner in collaboration with the Corporate Campaign and the Robert W. Wilson Challenge to Conserve our Heritage (World Monuments Fund).