The Heritage of Nepal

Rising like a giant staircase from the low-lying Terai plain to the towering heights of the Himalayas, the Kingdom of Nepal is a confluence of peoples, languages cultures and religions. Its cultural and historic heart, the Kathmandu valley, with nearly four-fifths of all the country's historic monuments, is also the area of Nepal most affected today by modernization and urban development.

Nepal thus faces a complex problem of harmonizing social and economic development with the preservation of a rich and unique cultural heritage and a natural environment of Imposing beauty.

Since 1968 Unesco has been assisting Nepal in the preservation of its historic monuments. It has helped in the restoration of the Hanuman Dhoka palace in Kathmandu, where the king will be crowned in February 1975. It has also aided Nepal in setting up a conservation laboratory at the National Museum in Kathmandu and is training specialists in restoration techniques, locally and through fellowships for study abroad.

To assist Nepal in making a total approach to the problems of conservation and economic growth, Unesco is now launching its first integrated enterprise in cultural conservation and development. Next May, Unesco will send a special team of experts to Nepal, in co-operation with the U.N. Development Programme, comprising specialists in the fields of economics, architecture, urban and rural planning, sociology, archaeology, public health, museology and legal questions.

The Unesco team will benefit from earlier surveys made by the Nepalese Government, in collaboration with Unesco and the United Nations, on town planning and the conservation of monuments and the natural environment and plans for economic development. It will also make use of the first detailed inventory of all the monuments and sites in the Kathmandu valley, just completed.

Using this information and making newon-the-spot surveys, the Unesco team will prepare a master plan for the cultural development of the Kathmandu valley which, while preserving its monuments will respect the needs of the people and protect the natural environment.

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