Lalitpur, March 25:

The Sundari Chowk, one of the three main courtyards in the Patan Durbar Square, will soon be renovated and opened for public after 14 years.

The palace and chowk has been abandoned for 14 years, resulting in deterioration of art and architecture of this 387 square-metre courtyard, which holds in it a sunken royal bath, Tusha Hiti — a masterpiece of stone sculpture and a stone bed.

The Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (KVPT) has taken initiatives to restore the chowk within three years, and it is estimated that Rs 30 million will be needed for the restoration. Rohit Ranjitkar, team leader of the restoration work and Nepal programme director of KVPT, said the trust has already signed an agreement with the Social Welfare Council (SWC) for the work. The renovation will be started after signing project agreements with the Department of Archaeology and SWC.

Twenty intricate lattice windows on the first floor of the three-storey palace are richly embellished with figurative images — birds, flowers, demigods, snakes — which are now partially damaged and some elements are missing. Of 16 niches on the walls of the ground floor, only one of them has original deities while others are replaced with deities without proper order, said Ranjitkar.

“The roof leakage has damaged and deteriorated the interiors. Therefore, they need to be reconstructed. The walls on the ground floor are ruined from damp, water has stopped dripping from Tusa Hiti (spout) and most of the magnificently carved stone images are covered by algae and bird-dropping has covered many of the art pieces. Stone paved floor will also be reconstructed,” he added.

It is considered one of the masterpieces among the 17th century art works of the Malla period.

The fund will be collected through various fund raising campaigns — recently held Nepal Investment Bank Annual Marathon 2007 collected Rs 2.5 million, Old Monument Fund, New York based organisation will provide equal amount to match the raised fund, and $ 0.1 million was raised in London last year to support the restoration of Sundari Chowk.