Joint Survey on Preservation and Utilization of a Historic House in Kirtipur, Nepal, part 4
Kirtipur, located in the southwest of Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, is on the Tentative Lists of World Heritage Sites as the “Medieval historic settlement of Kirtipur.” However, due to rapid urbanization and damage caused by the Gorkha earthquake in 2015, the historic townscape of Kirtipur has been changing; notably, the number of privately owned historic houses has been decreasing, the degree of which has not yet been ascertained.
The Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) and the Kirtipur Municipal Government have been taking inventory of historic houses in Old Kirtipur, along with a pilot case study of preservation of a historic house.（https://www.tobunken.go.jp/materials/ekatudo/2385501.html）
During a mission that took place from May 23 to 31, 2025, TOBUNKEN staff, a Kirtipur Municipal Engineer, and a Nepalese expert conducted a survey for the inventory of historic houses, including a study on the façade elements of those houses. While 137 houses were listed in the previous survey, conducted in July of last year, this time we added more cases, bringing the total number of candidate houses to 164. Studies of the façade elements of all candidates revealed the features of the historic houses and layers of time that span the unique history of Old Kirtipur.
The collected data will be analyzed, including discussions regarding the materials involved in the construction, to clarify the criteria for what constitutes a “Historic House of Kirtipur.” This inventory of historic houses is expected to be not only useful as a record of historic houses in Kiritpur, but also as basic data for creating a regulatory framework to support the preservation of historic houses in Kiritpur.