Inventing Tradition in Bhaktapur, Nepal: The Trajectories of Lime in Heritage Reconstruction

In this paper, we trace the evolution of discourse, policy, and practice that have legitimized lime as a "traditional" building material in ongoing heritage reconstruction in Bhaktapur, Nepal, following the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake. While historically much of Bhaktapur's architectural fabric has used brick and timber as structural systems along with mud-(or clay-)based mortars and finishes, lime-based mortars and plasters have become ubiquitous as a material for heritage reconstruction. The benefits of lime over mud in terms of material strength are cited as one reason. Diminishing sources for mud are attributed as another reason, even as lime is imported extensively from neighboring countries such as India. Local contractors, officials, and laborers describe lime as a traditional building material, even though it was introduced as mortar relatively recently by UNESCO consultants working in the Kathmandu Valley in the 1970s and 1980s. In this paper we examine the materialities of lime and the narratives around its strength and seismic performance that contribute to its popularity. We analyze the ways in which lime as a material for heritage reconstruction gets simultaneously classified as traditional and modern, local and global, through a brief historiography of its use in Kathmandu Valley and by engaging with specific case studies in the Bhaktapur Durbar Square, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.