Kathmandu Valley, by Carl Pruscha

In the late 1960s the Kathmandu Valley, as the cradle of a unique cultural heritage, stood at the verge of changes concerning development and growth. This first publication on the preservation of physical environment and the cultural heritage was intended as a guide for future development planning. In fact it has become the first complete assessment of the Valley’s heritage made known to the world, in context with the UNESCO Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. It served as the basis for special sites to be declared WORLD HERITAGE AREAS. Furthermore, it still stands for the enhancement of cultural heritage and evokes research from scholars and institutions concerned with the subcontinent and NEPAL. Since its first edition had long been out of print, the UNESCO Commissions in Austria and Nepal proposed a second edition as a reprint with a new foreword by the author and architect Carl Pruscha. Meanwhile the terrible earthquake in May 2015 has destroyed and damaged many of the sites and objects of the valley; this documentation thus represents a valuable source of information of almost historic importance. The publication contains two volumes: VOLUME ONE consists of a compilation of the 32 preservation districts (3 towns, 29 historic settlements) 46 monument zones (33 rural and 13 urban), and 24 natural preservation districts. VOLUME TWO contains a special inventory with a total of more than 800 individual objects and sites of which 376 are in Kathmandu, 284 in Patan, 62 in Badghaon, and 81 within rural settlements.