Material Authenticity and Conservation Traditions in Nepal

Abstract

In Nepal, the maintenance of temples and the tradition of reconstruction via replacement of deteriorated components have been upheld for a long time. If the definition of material authenticity is restricted to the building material and restricted to a building’s initial construction, then very few extant buildings in Nepal are “originals.” The Nepalese tradition of conservation has built on a sense of authenticity bodied forth in the design of a temple or its elements and in craftsmanly skills and experience passed on from one generation to the next. This article contends that the practice of conservation—an intangible but defining factor in Nepalese building traditions—deserves to be seriously examined in order to promote a sophisticated understanding of authenticity both in the local context and in the framework of “universal” conservation standards for use in Nepal.