Preserving the village’s identity
Bhimphedi has a very interesting place in Nepal’s history and it isn’t recorded anywhere. If nothing is done, its entire historical and architectural heritage risks to be lost in time. Being aware of the importance of people’s cultural identity, Awasuka Program decided to start a historical research on the village, as well as an architectural catalogue. Its mission is to collect as many sources as possible about Bhimphedi’s history, as well as showcasing all the historical buildings that are still standing, as some of them had already been demolished in the recent past, due to the lack of awareness regarding heritage protection.

Awasuka’s decision to do a historical catalogue was triggered by several facts that the team witnessed during the course of its operation in the field: the demolition of the old school in 2016 -an important historical building that had been a pilgrim’s hostel in the past- and the plans to demolish Bhimphedi Hospital in 2018. Fortunately, the latter one could be saved thanks to Awasuka’s communication with the Archaeology Department and their rapid reaction.

In 2018, once the plans of the Hospital’s demolition started and before the communication with the Department of Archaeology, a brief heritage dossier was prepared to raise immediate awareness regarding this demolition. The dossier was handed out to Bhimphedi municipality and also to different heritage organizations from Kathmandu, to inform them about the endangered heritage in Bhimphedi. Some of the organizations were: UNESCO Kathmandu, the Archaeology Department, Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust and Rabindra Puri Foundation.

Thanks to this document, some policies and actions started to be promoted regarding heritage protection and preservation. You may download this dossier from this webpage. You may also see the registered buildings location in this map below.