Chörten in Nepal

For more than two millennia Buddhism shaped the cultures of Central, South, Southeast, and East Asia. From ancient Bactria and Gandhara to Tibet, Mongolia, and Japan, from Sri Lanka and Myanmar to Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, each territory had its own peculiar way of developing representations of the Buddha, the Bodhisattvas, and a ­variety of guardian deities and saints. Of particular importance is the representation of the Buddha and his teachings in an iconic form in the shape of an impassable building. Called Stupa in Sanskrit, Caitya in Nepali, Cibha in Newari, and Chörten in Tibetan, these structures - whether imposing or in miniature size - not only characterise the urban space of the Newars in the Kathmandu Valley. They also mark the access to Tibetan villages in northern Nepal, line the trails across high passes, and stud topographically prominent places. By their thousands, they transform wilderness into a landscape that promises shelter, protection, and well-being. Often, these structures are small, made up of two or three cubes in diminishing size, placed on top of one another. Of particular importance are the Triple Protectors, the Rigsum Gönpo, in the shape of three multiple cubes, lined up to guard the settlements against calamities such as floods, landslides, pests, and plagues. To ensure their agency, their colours (black, white, red) are annually renewed. Single cubes may also signal their significance as repositories of relics or the ashes of the departed. 584 maps, architectural drawings, and photographs, produced from 1970 to 2008, document the rich cultural heritage of the Tibetan and Tamang enclaves along the range of the high Himalaya.

Niels Gutschow, born in Hamburg in 1941, studied architecture in Darmstadt and completed his PhD on Japanese cities in 1973. He worked as a planner and a municipal conservation officer in the 1970s, before turning to the history of architecture and planning and architectural anthropology. Since 1980, he has also been devoted to the history of urban planning in the wake of the Second World War. He first came to Nepal in 1962 and worked on the architecture and urban rituals of Nepal and India. In 1970, he visited Lower Mustang for the first time, before returning in 1988 to start an extensive survey of Chörten, focussing on villages such as Kag, Kyinga, Dzar, and Te. Surveys followed in Sindhupalcok (1976), Dhading (1982-2018), Humla (1990), Dolpo (1990), Mugu (1986 and 1998), and Upper Mustang (1992). Recently, he served as chief technical advisor in an effort to preserve the temples on Patan Darbar Square which had collapsed in the 2015 earthquake. His publications to date include: The Nepalese Caitya: 1500 Years of Buddhist Votive Architecture in the Kathmandu Valley (1997); Architecture of the Newars: A History of Building Typologies and Details in Nepal (2013); and (with J. Düwel) A Blessing in Disguise: War and Town Planning in Europe 1940-1945. Gutschow lives and works in Abtsteinach, Germany and Bhaktapur, Nepal.