 |
|
| Kathmandu, Wednesday August 06, 2003 Shrawan 21, 2060. |
|
Swoyambhu’s historic
temple gutted
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Aug 5 : Coming on the heels of the
recent redefinition by UNESCO of the Kathmandu Valley’s World Heritage Sites, Nepal
suffered another unfortunate fate as a fire destroyed an ancient temple of historical and
archeological importance in the premises of the Swoyambhunath Stupa, one of the seven
world heritage sites in the Valley.
The gutted temple is Pratappur, one of two built
by king Pratap Malla in 750 BS on one precipice of the Stupa. The other temple is Antapur
on another flank, built in the memory of his wife Antapriya. Both temples are the living
examples of the Shikhar style of the Malla dynasties.
It is not yet known how the temple caught fire.
Mahendra Ratna Bajracharya, general secretary of Swoyambhu Development Committee quoting
the priest of the temple told The Kathmandu Post that a man in white dress informed the
priest of the fire before leaving the spot immediately. He added that four persons are
responsible for the temple’s security.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and
Civil Aviation today constituted a five-member committee to probe the incident and to
suggest measures for the government to adopt to avert similar tragedy in other
archeological site of the country in future, said a statement issued by the ministry.
The fire took toll of the wooden archeological
fabric and stone idols inside the temple, according to Bajracharya who reached the spot as
soon as the fire erupted at about 11pm Monday. According to him, the location and
structure of the temple at a difficult height of the hill compelled fire fighters to work
late into the evening of the next day, Tuesday.
According to Bajracharya, the temple is not open
to public. It is opened only when conducting a puja is felt necessary at the time of
national crises and when a new Thakali priest replaces the previous one.
Other Stories
|
