Projects: Preserving Culture

"Twelve years ago, AHF undertook a travel back in time. Destination? The middle ages Kingdom of Lo, also known as Mustang. Once there, none of us could escape from the beauty of the fifteenth century temples of Lomanthang, its walled capital city. Enchanted by the beauty of the murals, but anxious at the same time, that the kingdom of Lo could lose their priceless and unique cultural heritage, AHF surveyed the ragged remains of Mustang’s renaissance.

The paintings, incredibly detailed, were covered by soot and grime, as well as aged varnishes, which were ominously shading the original bright colors. Powerful earthquakes in the past had undermined the stability of the temples, portions of the roof were sagging, consequent water infiltrations had washed away part of the pictorial cycle, and rising dampness had eroded and destroyed the lower sections of the murals. In some of the worst cases, the wall paintings were detached a couple of inches away from the wall, ready to fall off. The Lobas wouldn’t worship the sacred images; they were defiled from the happenings of the last centuries.

AHF’s survey turned into a daunting mission: to restore them. Without careful intervention, these rare treasures would be lost forever.

The same patience and skill used by fifteenth century masters, carpenters, and masons were transferred to AHF's team of carpenters and wall-painting conservators who painstakingly undertook the intervention of restoration season after season. The amount of work needed was the source for a much more thrilling quest: to train the Lobas, the local people, to restore their own treasures. As they were trained in the art and science of conservation, the temples of Mustang were slowly and steadily coming back to life. The trainees perseveringly turned into masters, as ancient reincarnations, and they managed to skillfully replace roofs, fix twisted structures, consolidate the inner renders of the murals and thoroughly remove soot, grime and varnish from the astonishingly beautiful wall paintings.

Thubchen Gompa, Jampa Gompa, Ghar Gompa, Tsarang Gompa and two giant chortens have come back to life, showing off their beauty and their splendor as it was conceived back in the fifteenth century. As work draws to a close, the results are stunning.

More important than that, the Loba community acknowledged the importance of their own cultural heritage, something they are really proud of now. Among them, more than 100 new local artisans can boast restoration skills that very few people have in Asia, and they are ready to safeguard other treasures. In fact, some among them have already been involved in projects in other remote areas of the Himalaya. But this time, they were trainers, not trainees!"

-Luigi Fieni

Lives flourish at the beautiful Kunsang Choling nunnery in Kathmandu, home to 45 young women who left desperate circumstances in far western Nepal to study Tibetan Buddhism.  The nunnery is a warm and caring place where, in addition to Buddhist classes, they also study English, Tibetan, art, philosophy, and calligraphy.

Many of these girls used to be illiterate and poor; now they can recite long Buddhist texts by heart and paint exquisite mandalas.  With AHF’s support, Kunsang Choling has become a safe haven for these young nuns.  While opportunities are few back home in their villages, here they get an excellent education and a chance to carry on the religions traditions of their ancestors.