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.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Selection criteria (iii), see UNESCO (2011). Accessed 16 August 2012, 20.
- 3.
Selection criteria (vi), see UNESCO (2011). Accessed 16 August 2012, 21.
- 4.
The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention aim to facilitate the implementation of the “Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage,” issued for the first time in 1972. The “Operational Guidelines” are periodically revised to reflect the decisions of the World Heritage Committee.
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Tiwari, S.R. (2017). Material Authenticity and Conservation Traditions in Nepal. In: Weiler, K., Gutschow, N. (eds) Authenticity in Architectural Heritage Conservation. Transcultural Research – Heidelberg Studies on Asia and Europe in a Global Context. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30523-3_7
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