More than 830 sites in 138 countries all over the world are now inscribed on the World Heritage List, and their number is constantly growing. Uniqueness, historical authenticity and integrity are basic criteria for inclusion.
The World Heritage Sites of the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal - in this richly-illustrated volume comprehensively presented in cultural historical perspective for the first time - deserve their place on the List for many reasons. They are true masterpieces of human creativity. They stand as unique testimony to a wide range of cultural traditions and religions. They represent exceptional examples of the architecture of many different epochs and lifestyles. The highly developed architectural art of the royal squares of the three main cities of the Valley - Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur - transports the visitor to a realm of cosmic unity. As the anthropologist Mary Slusser has rightly noted, this is architecture intended to serve both man and the gods. Temples, shrines and landscape blend harmoniously, indicating the way to yet another dimension - a reality not of this world. With the recognition of the history of the human spirit and its artistic manifestations as 'culturally valuable', a process of sacralization enters the picture.
From the late 18th-century, the Shah rulers and their collaterals (Thapas, Ranas, Basnets, Pandes and others) carried out considerable construction works in the Valley, but they failed to pay proper attention to maintaining the ancient monuments of earlier dynasties. H. Ambrose Oldfield, who was in Nepal during the time of Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana (1846-77), noted: 'It is quite different with the Gorkha Government.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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Hindu (880)
Agriculture (85)
Ancient (1006)
Archaeology (570)
Architecture (527)
Art & Culture (848)
Biography (587)
Buddhist (541)
Cookery (160)
Emperor & Queen (491)
Islam (234)
Jainism (271)
Literary (871)
Mahatma Gandhi (378)
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