Nepalese Architecture and Conservation Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering Nepalese historical architectural periods, traditional building typologies, vernacular house structures, building bye-laws, and heritage conservation principles.

Lichhavi Period

The golden age (5-8th century) in Nepalese architecture, characterized by Sikhara style temples, stone/copper/bronze deity images with slanted eyes, brick structural elements, timber infill, and copper tile roofing like in Kailashkut Bhawan.

Malla Period

Architectural era (10-18th century) that introduced clay, stone, and metal, highly prioritized metal works on walls, and featured Pagoda style temple architecture reflecting Newari design.

Rana Period

Architectural period (18-19th century) known as a dark age, characterized by rectilinear forms, Neo-classical to Baroque influence, front symmetry, white-washed or red buildings, and grand palace construction.

Tiered Temple

A Nepalese temple typology built with unreinforced masonry and mud mortar, featuring steep roof pitches, large overhanging eaves, and odd numbers of multi-tiered roofs without intervening floors.

Maju Dega

A tiered temple where the ratio of the width to the height from the topmost plinth level to the pinnacle is $1:2$.

Sikhara Temple

A tall pyramidal or curvilinear architectural structure divided into $5$ to $9$ sections, topped by bell-shaped parts and featuring miniature spires in horizontal and vertical rows.

Stupa

A religious structure consisting of relics, featuring a square and circular plan, a hemispherical body (anda), a rectangular enclosure (harmika), a staff (yasthi), and 13 concentric rings crowned by a finial.

Chaitya

A religious structure built in memory, either containing physical remains (placed in open lands/crossroads) or without physical remains (placed in settlements).

Vairochana

The white image located at the center in a Chaitya, depicting the teaching dhamma posture.

Amoghsiddhi

The green image located in the North of a Chaitya, depicting the varada posture.

Amitabh

The red image located in the West of a Chaitya, depicting the dhyana posture.

Ratnasambhava

The yellow image located in the South of a Chaitya, depicting the abhaya posture.

Akshyobhya

The blue image located in the East of a Chaitya, depicting the bhusparsa posture.

Pagoda Style Temple

A temple style (mandir or dega) featuring stacked roofs of decreasing dimensions, where only the ground floor cella (garbhagriha) is functional and upper floors are non-functional.

Dyo Chhen

A Hindu God's house in Nepal with a square or rectangular plan, used both as a residence and a designated place of worship, decorated exteriorly with sculptures, toranas, pinnacles, and entrance lions.

Bahals

The dominant type of courtyard in Newari Buddhist architecture, consisting of a square or rectangular space bounded by buildings on a raised platform called Falcha, typically with a central Chaitya.

Bahils

A two-storey architectural space designed for training monks and providing shelter and food to visiting monks, featuring ground floor open rooms and wooden screens facing the upper verandah.

Mandapa

The oldest building type, consisting of a covered square pavilion with open sides on a raised platform, serving as a shelter for travelers and a community gathering space inside settlements.

Patis

A public shelter consisting of a rectangular brick platform raised about $60\,\text{cm}$ with wooden boards, open post-and-lintel front construction, and a solid brick rear wall containing a gwakhacha.

Sattal

A structure created by adding a storey over a mandapa or pati, consisting of 3 large halls designed for longer stays by gurus and sadhus with a screened upper floor for privacy.

Gwakhacha

A niche present in the rear brick wall of a pati used for storage or placing an oil lamp at night.

Dhungedhara

A traditional Nepalese stone drinking fountain featuring an intricately carved stone waterway through which water flows uninterrupted from underground sources.

Garik Atwa

An elevated platform used in Tharu dwellings to store fodder.

Bahi

An entrance hall in a Tharu house located between the cattle shed and the dwelling area.

Du Anga

The ground floor division of a traditional Newari house, consisting of a front bay (pidya) used for shops and a rear bay (dudya) opening to the courtyard for storing tools or fireworks.

Matan

The first floor of a traditional Newari house, used for sleeping and storing family belongings in chests and boxes.

Chota

The second floor of a traditional Newari house where wall partitions are replaced by central columns (tham) to create large open spaces for conducting feasts (bhoj).

Baigah

The third floor of a traditional Newari house accommodating a kitchen with a hearth (bhutu), a pure space for deities (dyahkvatha), and a small terrace (atali).

Phata

A store facing the street in Thakali architecture, used for the preparation of alcohol and as a lodging area for servants.

Chikyang

A barn used specifically for storing hay in Thakali architecture.

Kho

A paved courtyard in a Thakali house where manure for the fields is piled.

Thabil

Stables in Thakali architecture separated from the hay store by a plank partition.

Khorcha

A canopy in Thakali houses serving as a storage space for a variety of objects.

Thim Then

The central room, meaning 'the main house', in a Thakali dwelling that provides access to three storage rooms.

Norkhang

A storage room accessed from the Thim Then in a Thakali house that contains family wealth such as jewels, clothes, and fabrics in trunks.

Pikhang

A storage room in a Thakali house containing jars of alcohol, vegetables, fruits, and products imported from lower valleys.

Inventory of Cultural Property

A detailed list or compilation of all existing tangible cultural property in a certain area in relatively good condition at a particular point in time, accompanied by descriptions, histories, and maps.

Inspection

The process of monitoring a historic building or site at regular intervals to factually record visual defects, diagnose causes of decay, and propose minimal intervention remedies.

Recording

The graphic or photographic capturing of information describing the evolution, physical configuration, and conditions of heritage at known points in time.

Documentation

The pre-existing stock of information regarding a heritage site or structure.

Preservation

A degree of conservation intervention focused on maintaining material content and setting in the same physical condition as received.

Restoration

Bringing a heritage site back to a known earlier state on the basis of archaeological evidence and authentic documents, respecting original materials and design.

Anastylosis

A degree of restoration intervention involving the quick reassembling of building parts after disasters.

Reintegration

A form of restoration involving qualitative and quantitative volume change.

Reconstitution

The piece-by-piece reassembling or rearrangement of building parts.

Conjectural Restoration

Restoration performed without authentic architectural or documentary basis.

Consolidation

Physical intervention in building fabric aimed at ensuring structural integrity, seismic retrofitting, and durability.

Reconstruction

The creation of vanished buildings in their original site or returning a place/object to a known earlier state by adding new or old materials.

Adaptive Reuse

The alternate, compatible reuse of a historic building suitable in the present context, differing from its original intended use.

Nubia Campaign

An international safeguarding campaign launched by UNESCO in 1960 to dismantle, move, and reassemble the Abu Simbel and Philae temples away from Aswan Dam flooding.