Buddhist Architecture in the Western Himalayas

In the last two decades, an extensive collection of research material on Buddhist architecture of the Western Himalayas has been built up at Graz University of Technology within the framework of various research projects. This research deals with various buildings temples, temple complexes and votive buildings that are associated with the second wave of the spread of Buddhism in Tibet from the 10th century onwards. The current project allows to include the preserved Buddhist monuments of Dolpo a region in western Nepal that directly borders Tibet in our research. The starting point as well as the most important and reliable source for architectural research are the preserved buildings themselves. Therefore, successful field research i.e. surveying and documenting the building stock on site is the most important prerequisite for all subsequent work steps. Completing the research material in the course of two expeditions to Dolpo should help us to answer the following questions: From which period do the preserved structures originate? What different aspects such as construction technique and materials used, form and function, size, orientation and artistic decoration can help us to understand the main particularities of the buildings? Which buildings can we define as prototypes? How do the original buildings change through alterations? And how are the buildings integrated into their natural and social environment i.e. into the landscape and the settlement structure? The proposed project will be grounded on interdisciplinary approach using research methods from the geodetic building survey and building technology on one hand, and theory and history of architecture on the other. The cooperation with the Institute of Engineering Geodesy and Measurement Systems of the Graz University of Technology enables us to implement innovative aspects of architectural surveying and documentation in the project. Our aim is to enhance the accurate documentation of significant buildings in this difficult-to-reach area to provide meaningful comparative material for the study of contexts within Buddhist architecture in Western Tibet, Northern India, and Western Nepal. As a result, we can provide the fundamental data that would become the point of reference for future building research and restorations. Besides the extension and elaboration of new research material, the second focus of the project is the detailed compilation of the collected research material on the Alchi Group of Monuments, a group of temple complexes in northern India dating back to the 12th century. The results will be published as the fourth volume of our book series Buddhist Architecture in the Western Himalaya.

The Buddhist temples and monasteries of Dolpo are part of a sacred landscape that has developed over the centuries in the cultural area of the Western Himalayas. Since the preserved buildings themselves are the most important and reliable source for the architectural research, our strategy is to comprehensively document the inventory in order to obtain material for the analyses of different sacred building types and their development. In cooperation with the Institute of Engineering Geodesy and Measurement Systems (IGMS) at the Graz University of Technology, we were able to optimise the building documentation during the fieldwork in 2022 and 2023. Compared to the first building surveys in Dolpo in 2019, the quality and quantity of the data collected increased considerably with the use of digital surveying methods. The material based on this comprises twelve ensembles in ten different locations. The results are 3D point clouds of all visible interior and exterior surfaces, which are superimposed with images from an integrated camera. 3D as-built models can then be shown as OBJ files that provide a true-to-scale, high-resolution record of all recorded objects. The following plan documentation compiles all the data collected during field research, enabling detailed analysis of building structures and comprehensive presentation in various forms. The earliest of the structures we documented were built between the 11th and 12th centuries. The analysis of the inventory shows that the main structures can essentially be divided into three building types. Firstly, the larger buildings that are structured by six pillars under the main beams in their assembly halls, named 'six pillar and nine beams' temples. This type includes five of the documented temples. Secondly, there are smaller temples with a main hall structured by four pillars, named 'four pillar and eight beams' temples. This type includes eight of the temples we documented. Thirdly, there are the overbuilt cave sanctuaries and multi-storey room structures. The development of these two- to four-storey structures is facilitated by the fact that the building actually 'leans' against the rock. This type includes four ensembles we documented. None of the buildings have yet been recognised as cultural monuments by the government, and there is currently no list of cultural monuments in Dolpo. Our results thus provide an initial overview of the temples and monasteries in this remote region. This enables us to establish a comprehensive typology of Buddhist architecture in Dolpo that allows for comparative analyses with buildings already documented in previous projects. Last but not least, the documentation provides the basis for much-needed restoration work.