Sherpa Architecture

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Sherpa

architecture

Valerio Sestini and

Enzo Somigli

Translated from Italian

by Timothy Paterson

The designations employed and the

presentation of the material in this

publication do not imply the expression

of any opinion whatsoever on the part

of the Unesco Secretariat concerning

the legal status of any country,

territory, city or area or of its

authorities, or concerning the

delimitation of its frontiers or

boundaries.

Published in 1978 by the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization

7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris

Printed by Journal de Genève S.A.,

Geneva, Switzerland

ISBN 92-3-201612-5

Unesco 1978

Printed

Switzerland

Preface

For many years Nepal had been closed to visitors, except for rare

permission given to groups seeking to climb its towering peaks or to

small numbers of scientists carrying out research on the flora and fauna

of the Himalayas. The resultant static situation, in which the art,

architecture, religion and way of life remained medieval in character

during much of the twentieth century, came to an abrupt end in the

1950s with the restoration of the monarchy to power and the opening

of the country to visitors.

The long period of isolation ensured the survival of many

examples of traditional art and architecture. During the past twenty

years changes have been accelerating throughout Nepal and partic-

ularly in Katmandu. The government, conscious of the need to

protect or to record its heritage before changes become too radical

has called upon Unesco, and in turn Unesco is mobilizing the support

the

international community, to aid it in carrying out a programme

of conservation.

This publication is one of the means through which one of the

architectural traditions of Nepal is being recorded for posterity and

the information widely diffused. The report, prepared by the Italian

architects Valerio Sestini and Enzo Somigli, has been illustrated

with their drawings and a selected number of their photographs. It

has been translated into English by Timothy Paterson of Florence,

Italy, and into French by Raymonde Frin, of Paris, France.

The opinions and views expressed are those of the authors.

Acknowledgements

The survey of Sherpa architecture, the results of which are published

in the following pages, was made in 1975 during the expedition to

Nepal organized by the Alpine Club of Italy and financed by the

National Research Council of Italy. Excerpts from the survey first

appeared in

Lhotse

75, published in 1977 by the Alpine Club of

Italy in association with Tamari of Bologna.

Particular thanks are due to the Council of the Alpine Club of

Italy and its President, Senator Giovanni Spagnolli, for having

included us in the expedition, thus enabling us to carry out this

study, and to Professor Giuseppe Nangerini for help and advice

during the initial and final stages of the survey before and after the

expedition.

We should like to express our appreciation to the following:

The National Research Council of Italy, for having financed the

survey,

and the Chairman of its Technological Committee,

Professor Mario Silvestri.

Unesco, for publishing the results of the survey; that they are pub-

lished is also due to the kind assistance of H.E. the Italian

Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of ltaly to Unesco,

Ambassador Ludovico Carducci Artenesio.

All those who have helped us with expert advice and suggestions:

H.E. Ambassador Gianfranco Pompei, the Italian National

Commission for Unesco and in particular Professor Aldo Sestini.

Our friend and translator, Timothy Paterson.

Florence, Italy

June 1978

VALERIO SESTINI

ENZO SOMIGLI

Contents

Foreword, by Trailoka Nath Upraity . . . . . . .

The environment and population of Khumbu . . . . .

Essential geography. . .

The Sherpas of Khumbu .

Architecture in Khumbu . . . . . . . . .

General characteristics .

The Sherpa house . .

Religious architecture in Khumbu . . . . . . . .

Origin, form and symbolism

of the stupa . . . .

The chorten in Tibet . .

The chorten in Khumbu

The gompa in Khumbu

Building materials and building art in Khumbu . . . .

Environment and building

materials . . . .

Building materials and

construction details .

New trends in building

materials and methods

Select bibliography . . . . . . . . , . . . .

Foreword

by His Excellency

Trailoka Nath Upraity,

Nepalese Ambassador

Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

to France,

Permanent Delegate to Unesco

Nepal is a land of contrasts. The Terai along its southern border is

low and with little relief, covered with jungle and swamps in which

are found tigers, elephants, rhinoceroes and deer of different species

as well as human habitations and cultivated areas. The Terai soon

gives way to a mountainous central area 300-2,500 m high, dissected

by valleys, of which the largest is the Katmandu Valley through which

the sacred Bagman River flows. Its northern borders are formed

by the Himalayas, the world’s highest mountain range, including

such world-renowned peaks as Sagarmatha (Mt Everest), Kanchen-

junga Makalu and many others.

The peoples who settled in Nepal over the course of centuries were

protected by the rugged terrain and isolation has contributed to the

survival of many different traditions. This tendency was reinforced

during much of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth

centuries, as a policy of isolation limited contacts with the rest of

the world. Thus, while elsewhere in Asia countries were influenced

by the spread of industrialization and the effects of colonization,

Nepalese society continued relatively unaffected. As a result, its way

of life, religious practices and architectural styles continued with

little change until 1951, when the monarchy was restored to power.

In the brief period of time which has followed, changes have

taken place with rapidity, as one of the most important results was

the decision to open the country to visitors and to stimulate commerce

with the outside world. The city of Katmandu, for example, which

only a few years ago had muddy roads and no facilities for visitors,

now has paved highways and several hotels of international calibre.

Education has become widespread within the valley and making

marked progress elsewhere. Not all aspects of change have been

desirable. While living standards have been improved, buildings of

outstanding beauty have been destroyed or marred by unsightly

‘modern’ additions.

The government, taking these factors into consideration, has

decided to adopt a master plan for the conservation of the cultural

heritage in KatmanduValley with the aid of Unesco and the United

Nations Development Programme. This is to ensure for our people

continued identification with their past and to bring to future gener-

ations knowledge of our traditions. This programme will also

preserve the harmonious relationship between man and his environ-

ment which has been the hallmark of our architectural heritage.

Inevitably, similar striking changes to those taking place in the

city of Katmandu, now linked by air with many other cities, by road

with neighbouring countries, are gradually occurring in the more

remote areas of the country. When one takes into account the varied

origins of our people and the developments which have taken place

in isolation, it is obvious that we are in urgent need of detailed

documentation before our ancient ways of life and traditions dis-

appear. The Sherpas who have settled in the southern slopes of

Sagarmatha form one of the ethnic groups that are known to all

the world because of their role as guides and porters for moun-

taineering expeditions. It is difficult today to conceive of any expedition

to the higher peaks in Nepal without Sherpas. However, they also

work with many tourists trekking through the mountainous areas of

Nepal and, as a result, many are known personally to such visitors.

Much of the Sherpas’ income today results from such work.

Old patterns of subsistence agriculture and animal husbandry are

being affected by the change to a money economy. Patterns of living

and resultant changes to the architectural traditions are now taking

place with increasing rapidity. Hence this study represents a very

useful and unique record of a style of architecture which may largely

disappear in a few generations.

I wish, therefore, to express my

appreciation to the two architects, Valerio Sestini and Enzo Somigli,

who have carried out this survey of Sherpa architecture. Their

documentation is an important contribution to the studies of tradi-

tional architecture of a people accustomed to living in a very challeng-

ing environment.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity also to express my

appreciation to the Director-General of Unesco and to the members

of his staff who have supported my country in the work to record

and to conserve our cultural heritage.

The environment

and population

of Khumbu

Essential geography

The Himalayan mountain ranges, the greatest mountain system in

the world, are parallel ranges extending from east to west in broad

belts, which vary as regards altitude, geomorphology, climate and

vegetation. In Nepal, three successive parallel belts extend from the

hot, steamy plains bordering on India in the south to the Tibetan

frontier in the north. These three belts are the southernmost outer belt,

the sub-Himalaya foothills; the central belt, the pre- or low Himalaya

range, with peaks rising to over 3,000 m; and, with a difference in

altitude of 3,000 m, the northern belt or main range, the high Hima-

layas, the character of which is distinctively Alpine. Of unequalled

majesty, the peaks of the high Himalayas soar as high as 6,000-8,000 m

and are dominated by Mount Everest (8,848 m), the highest mountain

in the world. In eastern Nepal, close to the main, northernmost

range of the high Himalayas, lies the Khumbu region, the home of

the Sherpas, a people of Mongoloid stock, Tibetan culture and

Lamaist religious beliefs.

The Khumbu region (Fig. 1) spreads out fanwise to form a series

of deep, wide, convergent valleys, down which rush torrential streams

to the confluence with the Dudh Kosi, the natural boundary of

Khumbu, flowing through a narrow gorge in an outer range of the

northernmost Himalaya belt. At the head of the valleys, many of

which branch out into smaller side-valleys, magnificent crests and

peaks varying in height from 6,500 m to 8,800 m, rise up above the

main divide separating Nepal from Tibet. In the Everest massif, in

addition to Everest (8,848 m), Lhotse (8,501 m) and Lhotse Shar

(8,383 m), as well as Cho Oyu (8,153 m) farther to the west, all

exceed 8,000 m. The crests of the spurs separating the valleys and the

passes communicating with them exceed the 5,000 m mark. Such

high altitudes, which inevitably affect climate and vegetation, are

impressive chiefly on account of the great differences in height,

Fig. I

varying from 2,000 m to 4,000 m, between the beds of the valleys

The Khumbu region.

and the peaks towering above them. The valleys, apart from being

deep, are wide, forming U-shaped cross profiles as a result of Pleisto-

cene glaciation. This same characteristic is found in the valleys of

the Alps. The heads of these wide valleys are obstructed by glacier

tongues forming ice-streams, while the lower ends are covered with

moraine deposits alternating with short stretches of flat alluvial

terrain and the silted-up beds of old lakes. The gently sloping glaciers

overhang the steep sides of the valleys, either of bare rock or coated

with snow or ice with deep grooves cut by avalanches.

The mountains of Khumbu are composed of granitic rock with

a prevalence of crystalline schists, that is, gneiss and other meta-

morphosed rock. Sedimentary rock is also found in the mountains

of the Everest massif dating from the Palaeozoic, interspersed with

yellow veins of crystalline limestone. The geological composition

of such rock gives rise to sharp outlines and crests as a result of the

effects of weathering, which here are particularly severe, mainly the

abrupt rise and fall in temperature, that is, intense cold followed

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摘要：

SherpaarchitectureValerioSestiniandEnzoSomigliTranslatedfromItalianbyTimothyPatersonThedesignationsemployedandthepresentationofthematerialinthispublicationdonotimplytheexpressionofanyopinionwhatsoeveronthepartoftheUnescoSecretariatconcerningthelegalstatusofanycountry,territory,cityorareaorofitsautho...

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