Many internationally recognised monuments preserved intact for centuries have been destroyed, but hope remains that Nepal’s shattered heritage sites can be rebuilt

The road to the Changu Narayan temple winds through the outskirts of Kathmandu, past villages, wheat fields and up through leafy woods. There is a village, now partly ruined, and then a steep walk up a narrow alley between broken homes to the temple’s shattered remains. From the piles of rubble which surround the cracked central shrine, the view extends across the entire Kathmandu valley.

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Below lies Bhaktapur’s Durbar Square and palace, a medieval township preserved almost intact for centuries but now in ruins. Further away are the palaces of Patan, which are cracked or collapsed. In the far distance are scores of other monuments, most listed by Unesco as being of global importance and almost all badly damaged.

“Kathmandu was a city of temples. Now it is a city of tents,” Prof Madhab Gautam of the local Tribhuvan University, said.

The death toll in Nepal’s “Great Quake”, as local media are calling it, stands at 6,260 and could climb much higher. Many villages in remote areas that were badly hit by the 7.8-magnitude quake on Saturday have yet to be reached. But along with immense human loss, there is cultural loss too. And its extent is also unknown.

“We have sent a team out beyond the Kathmandu valley to assess the damage. We know some temples have been destroyed,” said Bheshraj Dahan, head of the government’s Department of Archaeology.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nepalese police clear rubble at the Narayan temple in Kathmandu. Photograph: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images

Around Changu Narayan temple, which is 1,600 years old, police officers tentatively inspected the remaining walls. A massive granite beam, shaken off its two upright supports, lay on the ground. Nearby a massive brass bell lay among tangled prayer flags.

“We are worried about a further collapse but we have brave hearts,” PC Kin Magha said.



The sprawling complex, which covers the top of the hill and gleams in the low evening light, is covered in ornate wooden carvings and statuettes. Many are cracked or detached.

Such works are highly sought after on the international art market. Nepal has long been a target of organised theft of artefacts, many of which end up in private collections or museums in the west.

In Patan on Friday, soldiers moved tonnes of carved wood and masonry into the secure central courtyard of the old palace.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Soldiers clear rubble of temples at Patan’s Durbar Square. Photograph: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images

Outside, a stone griffon lay on its side on the flagstones of the main square, but a gilded Garuda, the mythical bird, remained firmly, and somewhat miraculously, on its high pillar.

“So many things – religious, cultural, historical, social, economic – are interconnected here. This is a city for which the cultural sites are part of its skeleton. If you take them away, the city collapses,” Gautam said as he watched the debris being cleared.

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Every Nepalese village has its shrine, and even in Kathmandu temples are central to community life. Unofficial neighbourhood watch schemes have sprung up to guard cultural sites. Mrigen Joshi, 21, said he and dozens of others had been guarding Durbar Square.



“We see it as our property so we should preserve it. We stay until nightfall and then the army take over,” Joshi, a student, said.

Lakshmi Shreshtra, 71, said the destroyed temples in the square had been “companions” since birth. “I played on them when I was a little girl. Young people meet there. Old people go to sit in the sun and talk there. I go every day to prayer there. Everyone comes together to celebrate our festivals there,” she said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Buddhist monk salvages religious items from a monastery around the Swayambhunath stupa. Photograph: Niranjan Shrestha/AP

A small nearby temple with a lockable gate was being used as a store for relief material. About 80% of Nepalese are Hindu, and the shrine was dedicated to Ganesh, the god known as a remover of obstacles, among other things.

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Then, of course, there is the economic element. Almost 10% of Nepal’s economy depends on tourism. Yards from the devastated Changu Narayan temple, Kamal Bhujel, a traditional religious artist, was trying to salvage elaborate Buddhist paintings from the rubble of his studio and shop. “I have lost 15 years worth of work. All my pupils have lost their homes and have fled,” he said.

The owner of a guesthouse next door sifted the ruins of his establishment. He had just invested in an Italian-made coffee machine to serve western clients.“We are ruined. No one will come here now. The foreigners will be too scared,” Anis Bhatta, 25, said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Quake victims are cremated in Pashupatinah, Kathmandu. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images

Some are already blaming corrupt officials for the destruction of the temple. They are alleged to have turned a blind eye to massive illegal quarrying of sand from the hill on which the temple stands. This, it is believed, weakened the foundations of the structure.



“It is too soon to make any link but it is entirely plausible. We have opened an inquiry,” said Insp Dinesh Bandari, the most senior officer in the area.

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Government officials say they have received pledges of financial assistance for reconstruction of the monuments from European states, India and Unesco. Dahan, of the Department of Archaeology, said he was confident that all would be restored within five to seven years.

The Kathmandu valley lies at a historic crossroads of Asian trade routes, religion and cultures. Its monuments are internationally recognised as of unique quality and importance, mixing Indian and Tibetan styles as well as Hindu and Buddhist iconography. The kingdoms of the Kathmandu valley, fertile and well-defended, were among the most powerful and vibrant in south Asia when at their peak between the 15th and the 18th centuries.



“Heritage can be rebuilt. Once every hundred years an earthquake has destroyed the palaces and temples but our kings always restored them. That we can do. It is just a question of money,” Kunda Dixit, editor of the local Nepali Times, said.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Boudhanath Stupa remains standing in Kathmandu. Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP

After the last major earthquake, in 1934, many buildings had to be rebuilt. Rohit Ranjitkar, a local cultural historian and conservationist, said he was confident that those damaged this time would also be restored. “This is our heritage. This is our duty,” he said.



In the narrow lanes of the village under the Changu Narayan temple, a medical camp has been set up be an international NGO, and a yellow tarpaulin sheltered those whose homes had been destroyed. These included Sunita Bhadel, who ran a small museum in the temple.

Nepal and the world had an obligation to restore the complex to its former glory, she told the Guardian. “It is the most important temple in the country. But that is not the point. It is just simply impossible to imagine any community, any village, anywhere, without its shrine, whether it is as big as this one, or just a pile of stones,” Bhadel, 27, said.

• The caption on the first picture was amended on 7 May 2015 to clarify that the Nyatapola temple survived the earthquake.

