One of Nepal’s most-iconic buildings and a UNESCO World Heritage site, which was heavily damaged by the M-7.8 earthquake in 2015, is set to be repaired and structurally strengthened, according to the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation.
The Gaddi Baithak is a 100-year-old neoclassical building from which Nepal’s kings once ruled and settled country affairs—its name means Royal Seat. It also was the place where important foreign guests such as ambassadors were welcomed by the king.
The structural and architectural repairs and strengthening will be done by the technical nonprofit engineering expert Miyamoto Global Disaster Relief in partnership with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, Nepal (ICOMOS), and in close coordination with the government of Nepal’s Department of Archaeology.
“Miyamoto Relief is honored to be restoring this iconic building when so many others were lost,” said Sabine Kast, Miyamoto Relief executive director. “It’s a reminder to the world that it is feasible to restore and strengthen heritage buildings to protect and preserve important cultural treasures.”
While damage is extensive, Miyamoto engineers believe the 100-year-old Gaddi Baithak is repairable and can be made even stronger before another earthquake hits.
Locally trained workers will repair and structurally strengthen the Gaddi Baithak using a combination of national and international earthquake engineering techniques that avoid compromising the building’s historic architecture.
