Nepal located in a seismic zone has experienced several earthquakes over the centuries. Beyond considerable human (dead 6000) losses and thousands of wounded persons, the earthquake of 25th of April 2015 has caused the destruction of monuments and houses in the three former Royal towns of the Valley of Kathmandu, Patan, city known for its Buddhist monasteries, Kathmandu and the third located in the East of the Valley, Bhaktapur. The temples and palaces built in brick and wood were erected between the XIIth and XVIIIth centuries during the dynasty of the Malla Kings. On the three places in front of the old palaces some temples have been reduced to heaps of rubble. Amazingly, the five-stories Bhhaktapur Nyatapola temple has not been damaged. The monuments of the three cities were part of world heritage of UNESCO. Experts are afraid that Nepalese cultural heritage will be hard to recover from the earthquake.

Anne Vergati

Temple de Shiva à Cangu Narayana €Shiva temple. Cangu Narayana © James Giambrone.

Place Durbar Square à Kathmandu €Durbar Square. Kathmandu © James Giambrone.

Buddha. Bhaktapur. © James Giambrone.