"It is god's gift to see beauty in small things"

Erich Theophile is totally besotted with the ancient Nepali architecture. To save the masterpieces, he is on an ongoing peaceful tug of war with a certain section of the society; the people who do not value patina, those who would gleefully tear down the old to replace the new; those who blindly succumb to the mounting development pressures. Erich’s goal is to earmark the fifty most important buildings in the valley and save them. Born in Boston, raised in Framingham, he was educated at Harvard and at the architecture school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He had a residential rehab practice in Boston, specialising in restoring buildings on Beacon Hill and in the Back Bay in the mid 80s. A chance visit to Kathmandu in 1987 sowed seeds that today has flourished into a full time commitment. Today, he lives and works in the heart of Patan Durbar Square, in the midst of the hub of the pulsating life that is a quaint mixture of the ancient and the new. An ear shattering horn of a car that jolts you out of your reverie while staring at one of the plinths testifies strongly indeed that you are experiencing something that is very happening, in the living museum that this valley is. As the Executive Director of the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (KVPT), that was established in 1990; he and his team has rescued over a dozen significant monuments in the last decade. The Independent spoke with this dynamic personality about his work and his long affair with the ‘faces’ that he sees in the exquisite woodcarvings and the hold that the ambiance of the architecture of the centuries gone by has over him. The excerpts:

Q: How do you priortise your preservation work? On what basis do you decide which monument needs your attention first?
A: We go by the historical value of a monument. We aim to safeguard the extraordinary and threatened architectural heritage of Nepal. Many monuments that we are striving to save are located rather out of way and do not carry much value from the tourist point of view; but since they are historically very important, we want to save them. The ones that stand out in prime places get a lot of attention from others anyway.

Q: What changes have you observed in Kathmandu in the past twelve and half years of your stay here?
A: Unfortunately, I have seen a lot of losses. So many great buildings were destroyed, precious artifacts stolen. Now I see the tide turn, the danger is not as great. However today, the danger lies perhaps in over-restoration. Preservation activities have also increased; from small projects to more ambitious restoration projects.

Q: Has the attitude of the people towards restoration changed?
A: Yes, I think people now think that restoration is a popular thing, that it is good and even fashionable. They are becoming more sensitive to the value of their heritage and culture; and beginning to understand that these rare monuments stand as a proof of the rich history of their generations gone by.

Q: Do the communities chip in the restoration of their local monument? How do they react to your work?
A: Sometimes they contribute and it is a good thing because that way they feel they have a stake in the work, and it also ensures maintenance later on. But at the same time it also invites many suggestions that are simply not viable to the nature of work that we are doing - that is to preserve as close to the original as possible.

With or without their involvement, we get to interact with the locals and listen to their varying ideas. Here again, the art of negotiation plays a great part.

Q: Earthquake is a major concern in our country. Do you take that into consideration?
A: Definitely. In the capital Durbar Square, we brought in the world’s leading earth quake engineers to study how the temples will respond in the event of an earthquake, how they responded to the earthquake in 1934; what are the most sensitive ways to strengthen them and so on. This work is not for a single project, this knowledge is to be shared with all projects.

Q: Are not temples with larger base area more resistant to earthquakes?
A: That is my hunch too. This is something to be researched about. One of the possible solutions to our earthquake strengthening, that can be concealed, would be to insert a strong new foundation underneath the plinth; which would act as a buffer and the base takes on the extra shock.

Q: What impact has pollution on the monuments?
A: Though other risks, like destruction and theft are so much greater, it is still an issue. Wood is less sensitive to air pollution than marble or stone. The ancient roofing system and the extensive usage of wood that are vulnerable to water, pose greater challenges. Let’s say, if we had a lot more money to spend, we would go around fixing more roofs than worry about air pollution.

Q: There has been a steady loss of artifacts from our country. What is your reaction to it?
A: There has been a sudden wave of loss of artifacts in the past nine months. There has been more carved art stolen during this period than we have seen in the last ten years. I do not know what to do. It is really alarming. This is driven by the art market that is ever growing and the Asian market has a great cache.

Q: What with thefts increasing and the thieves adopting more innovative ways to procure and sell the stolen goods; would we be left with the last resort of locking away the genuine artifacts and replacing them with replicas?
A: Well, even a replica made by us was nearly stolen once. That could be the last resort, but an easy way out. We should look for better, long lasting ways and means of prevention of thefts.

Q: The scenario of stolen arts, of insensitive people who want to raze down the old... it all sounds dismal. Doesn’t it?
A: Yes, the story sounds sad but I do not see it as sad. This is the same thing that happened in the States in the sixties and the seventies. We ripped everything down too. Then there were sensitive groups of people, private groups, funds that were mobilised and they worked together to preserve the historical buildings. Here, there are very few organisations have the opportunity to play that role.

Q: How do you see your (your organisation’s ) role?
A: I see our role as absorbing, engaging and challenging. I also see it as god’s great gift to see beauty in small things. We have a commitment borne out of our love for these ancient artworks, monuments and that gives us the stamina required to go through the paper work, negotiating with the government people and the locals, and through other loop holes. Sometimes a project takes a long time. For example, there is this project that Dr. Saphalya and I identified and the court case took nine long years. In cases like this, the struggle to save the building becomes even more important.

Q: What keep you going?
A: Love for the beautiful, ancient things that has been handed down through the generations. The architecture of Nepal is world class and stands up to the greatest monuments, globally.

Q: What keeps you here?
A: Work, that is very challenging and very different from preservation work that I might have been doing in the States. Here, it involves, education, training, publicity and research and even charity work that an architect in the States would not have time for.

Q: Why does it usually take an outsider to appreciate the beauty lying around us?
A: I think this is a universal trend. One kind of gets used to one’s surrounding and takes it for granted. I myself have not been to all the historical sites of Boston. It really does not matter where you are from to appreciate beauty where ever you are.

Q: Do you feel you have come a long way?
A: Yes. When I started this work, I was alone, 29 years old. Now, this organisation has grown in all ways and people are so efficient, they can carry the work on their own! And I think, preservation here is special, as traditional values, building practices and craftsmen still survive. When six Newar guys sit around a table and fight about which instrument is carried by which god, that’s preservation, that’s living. That is the human quality that is much more powerful.