Thupstan Chosling Gompa Restoration project 2014 Project background

Tibet Heritage Fund (THF) and its local affiliate Old Town Initiative (LOTI) were invited to the Chumathang village to look at an ancient temple in 2013. The temple is named Thupstan Chosling Gompa but often is simply called as Gompa Nyingba (old temple). From our primary observation on the building, it was essential to repair the damaged roof, which was in danger of collapse. Also, the repair of the roof will protect the beautiful wall paintings inside of the hall from damage from water infiltration and wind. The Chumathang village community requested help from THF/LOTI for the restoration of their ancient temple. We had discussion with the community representatives and agreed to cooperate for restoration of the temple. This collaboration was designed as such; the village will provide construction materials and labours, the THF/LOTI will coordinate the restoration and providing our expertise. Finally, LOTI`s Stanzin Tundup got excited to coordinate and implement this project and he apply for support from Perween Fellow- ship in 2014, with this support the project could begin.

This project was realized in collaboration with: Chumathang village and,

Three boys from Chumathang village in the temple. Three baby Yaks in Chumathang. Over view of Chumathang village. The village is located east side of the Indus river bank. Currentry, there are about 600 familes living in this village. The temple is located between the village and the river bank (red marked).

Location Thupstan Chosling Gompa (temple) is located on the Chumathang village. Chumathang is 140km from Leh to the south-east direction, locating along the Indus River. Coordinates: N33°21’425” / E78°20’243” Elevation: 4049 meter History

The Thupstan Chosling Gompa is ancient temple of Druk-pa Kagyu lineage founded by Lama Chozey Lakpa in 1631. Druk-pa Kagyu lineage was widely spread in Bhutan and in the 17th century. According to the villagers, this temple was once the center of the settlement, but the village shifted to the hillside. Now only this temple remains on the site and yet it is worshiped by the community daily. There are beautiful old wall paintings in the temple. The contents of the wall painting include the founder and import- ant lama of Druk-pa Kagyu lineage and various deities. Also there are Tibetan inscriptions, which may help to under- stand who are the historical figures drawn on the painting. Locally, it is believed that this temple was built at the same time as the monastery in the 17th century and the wall paintings was painted with leftover pigments from the Hanle monastery. However, there are needs of further research to confirm the temple’s history.

View from south west side, showing the back side of the temple. Figure of a lama from the Druk-pa Kagyu lineage painted in the temple. Building description

Thupstan Chosling Gompa is a one-storied building, which was built on the river bank on a stone platform about 3m high from ground level. Its building plan is in the shape of oblong, the size is 6.4m x 5m. There is single entrance door on the east side and one small skylight on the ceiling. The building structure is simple; two post-brackets support a line of beams, and the rafters laid cross between the outer wall and the main beam. The ceiling is covered with willow twigs ‘Taloo’ and the roofing is made with thick layer of soil. Wooden brackets are elaborated with carvings with religious symbols of fire-jewel and wisdom-sword motives. There is a basement accessible from a small entrance at the backside of the temple. According to the villagers, this was the room for meditation. Remain of the door frame can be seen at the entrance. Exterior of the temple is simple too. The parapet is made with sun-dried mud-brick and it was painted in red with ‘Za’ the oxidized iron color, the outer wall is whitewashed over the years. This white wall and red frieze is the typical appearance of the Tibetan monastery.

East facade of the temple. Showing a simple

Basement was used as meditation room. rectangular building built on the stone platform.

Inside of the temple. Two pillars with carved brackets are the original structure. Additional pillars were erected as temporal support by the villagers to prevent the roof from falling. Tibet Heritage Fund Archive Thupstang Chosling Gompa

South wall © Yutaka.H / THF Wall Painting

The interior walls are painted with wall painting on whole four sides, covering an area of approx.30m2. The iconographic contents are mainly the founders of Kagyu school, figures of Drukpa lineage, Buddha, Padmasambhava, Long life Buddha/Tsepame, Vajradhara/Dorje-Chang, white-Tara/Dolkar, Bodhisattvas, Mahakara and Chana-Dorje etc. and filled with small images and figures. Also there are several Tibetan inscriptions written on the walls, Unknown Sangye Mengla Unknown Marpa (Medicine Buddha) A lama of Drukpa lineage those may help to find more about the his- tory of this temple. Those paintings are important and highly valuable to the local community for their daily worship. North wall © Yutaka.H / THF

Milarepa Unknown Unknow Dolkar A lama of Drukpa lineage (White-Tara) Tibet Heritage Fund Archive Thupstang Chosling Gompa

East wall © Yutaka.H / THF

Cherenzig Palden Lhamo Chana-Dorje Guru-Rimpoche (Avalokitesvara) (Shri Devi) (Vajrapani) (Padmasambhava)

West wall © Yutaka.H / THF

Tsepame Unknown Sangye Unknown Dorje-Chang (Long life Buddha) A lama of Drukpa lineage (Buddha) A lama of Drukpa lineage (Vajradhara) Building condition

Thupstan Chosling Gompa has a generally weak roofing structure. In the past, due to limited ma- terial, the local willow trees were used for rafters. This soft and flexible wood could not support the heavy roofing weight and caused damage of several rafters. It is urgent to replace the rafters before total collapse of roof structure. Additionally, the heavy roofing weight caused distortion of main timber structure, i.e. bent of beams, slant of pillars, twist of brackets. The walls are good in condition and wall paintings are stable. There are several minor cracks on the walls, which need to be treated during structural repair and also wall painting restoration. Wall paintings need to be consolidated and cleaned and minor re-touching can be considered if necessary.

Craks were found every where on the wall. Most part of the ceiling structure has damages. Broken rafters and rotten ceiling twigs need to be replaced.

Structural deformation caused by heavy roofing weight. Structural adjustment is necessary. Summery of project activity 2014

THF/LOTI completed architectural survey, photographic documentation and developed the restoration plan. Then, our team coordinated the local community to prepare the construction materials. Some mate- rials i.e. rafters and slate stones were brought from Leh and the rest of the materials were provided by the local community. THF/LOTI assembled a restoration team and started the structural repair work. Chumathang community actively participated as voluntary labours and also provided logistic assistance. THF/LOTI’s expertise super- vised the restoration process and the team completed the roof repair work. This roof will prevent further damage of the historic wall painting by water infiltration due to rain and snow.

Documentation Preparation Restoration 1. Building survey

Taking measurement of the building.

Mark measurement on the sketches.

Draft the architectural drawing.

Tracing the carving of the bracket. Road

Circumambulation path

platform

Temple

Mani-wall

Parking Thupstan Chosling Gompa - Chumathang Site plan (Scale in desplay 1:200)

Drawing by: Mauli M. Survey by: Mauli.M, Vivek.A, Stanzin.T, Yutaka.H Thupstan Chosling Gompa - Chumathang Ground floor plan (Scale in desplay 1:100)

Drawing by: Mauli M. Survey by: Mauli.M, Vivek.A, Stanzin.T, Yutaka.H Thupstan Chosling Gompa - Chumathang Basement floor plan, Basement ceiling plan, Ground floor ceiling plan (Scale in display 1:100)

Drawing by: Mauli M. Survey by: Mauli.M, Vivek.A, Stanzin.T, Yutaka.H Thupstan Chosling Gompa - Chumathang East elevation, South elevation (Scale in display 1:100)

Drawing by: Mauli M. Survey by: Mauli.M, Vivek.A, Stanzin.T, Yutaka.H Thupstan Chosling Gompa - Chumathang West elevation, North elevation (Scale in display 1:100)

Drawing by: Mauli M. Survey by: Mauli.M, Vivek.A, Stanzin.T, Yutaka.H Thupstan Chosling Gompa - Chumathang North-south cross section, East-west cross section (Scale in display 1:100)

Drawing by: Mauli M. Survey by: Mauli.M, Vivek.A, Stanzin.T, Yutaka.H Thupstan Chosling Gompa - Chumathang Pillar detail (Scale in display 1:15)

Drawing by: Mauli M. Survey by: Mauli.M, Vivek.A, Stanzin.T, Yutaka.H 2. Photographic documentation

Photographing the painting with light-frame, which measure the 600mm x 400mm.

Prepare the string. Mark the corners where the strings are crossing.

Grid of 600mm x 400mm are marked on the wall painting surface. 3. Preparation

Remove the bark and plane the surface of rafters.

Consolidate the painting with Japanese paper, in preparation for opening the roof.

Cover the wall painting with plastic sheet, to protect from dust. 4. Wall crack repair

Stitch the crack with prepared joints by fixing joints in different levels. Fill the cracks with mud-mortar.

Prepare the joint with line string. 5. Door frame repair

Remove the doorframe from the building. Fixing new doorsill, the pivots were made with hard wood. Fix back the repaired doorframe. 6. Entrance stone step repair

1. Fill the mud mortar to bind the river stones. 2. Lay the stones to level the height of the steps. 3. Fixing the slate as stepping stone.

1

Stone steps after repair.

2

3 7. Roof opening

1. Villagers helping with the opening of the roof. 2. Collect the 'Taloo' twigs and ceiling materials for recycling and use later. 3. After opening the roof, remove debris from the temple hall.

1

A result of roof opening after the dust shower.

2

3 8. Making the door

Blacksmith of the village made the metal doorknob. Traditional craftsmanship is still available in Chumathnag.

Making the new door panels. Plane the door panel to smooth the surface. Fixing the new door panel and doorknob. 9. Dismantle of structure

Remove the rafters from the roof.

Stanzin supervising the removal of the rafters. Dismantle the structural timber. 10. Re-assembling of structure

Leveling the bracket to fit with beam.

Wash and clean the timber elements. Pre-assembling of structure before placing it back. Assembling in place the wooden structure. 11. Lay the roofing materials

Carry up rafters to the roof. Placing the rafters between the beam and walls. Fixing the place of rafters with adobe brick. 1

Roofing materials, straw mat, Yakzes grass and rafters.

2

Placing of roofing materials over the twigs to make the next roof layer.

1. 'Taloo' twigs ,which was in good condition were selected for recycle. 2. Cutting the twigs into proper size. 3. Placing the twigs between rafters.

3 12. Making of parapet

1. Fixing the horizontal timber 'Chal-shing' to support the parapet. 2. Building up the parapet with adobe bricks. 3. Roofing work on progress.

1

2

Leveling the roof edge to prepare to build the parapet. 3 Making of wooden gutter.

Treat the roof edge with bitumen sheet for improve waterproof Making the proper slope of the edge. Fixing slate stones with cement to prevent water infiltration. perfomance. After set up the 'Chal-shing', ready to begin the parapet making.

Plastering the parapet.

Masons placing the slate stone on the parapet. Use the string to make a straight line.

Completion of parapet with slate stone. Placing the second roofing soil.

Placing the 'Mar-kalag' clay.

Preparing the roofing soil to be carried to the roof.

Applying final mud-mortar on the parapet. 13. Making of skylight

1. Carpenter preparing the wood to build the skylight. 2. Assembled skylight frame. 1 3. Painting skylight frame and preparing for fixing it.

Making the roof of the skylight.

2

3 14. Plastering, colouring and oiling

Making the decorative frame around the door. Painting the parapet frieze with red color.

Whitewashing the exterior wall.

Applying linseed oil on the inside timber elements. 15. Completion of structural restoration

Ceiling after restoration. Entrance door, repaired doorframe and new wooden door. Structural elements set in proper position. Thupstang Chosling Gompa after restoration.

New skylight improve the natural light in the temple. Tsatsa shrine was made by Chumathang community near by the temple. Project team: Ms. Pimpim de Azevedo, THF Co-director, Portugal Mr. Yutaka Hirako, THF programme director / Architect, Japan Mr. Stanzin Tundup, LOTI project cordinator, Achinathang, Ladakh Ms. Mauli Mishra, LOTI architect, Dehradun, Mr. Vivek Aggarwal, LOTI Intern architect, Jammu, India Ms. Mechtild Mertz, Wooden identification, Germany Ms. Stanzin Dolkar, LOTI logistic manager, , Ladakh Mr. Tashi Mutup, LOTI head mason, Igu, Ladakh Mr. Sherab Gyetso, LOTI carpenter, Chumathang, LadakhW Mr. Partab Kumar, LOTI mason, Nepal Mr. Ner Bahadur, LOTI labor, Nepal Mr. Manish Kumar, LOTI labor, Behar, India

Mr. Norbu Tashi and Mr. Tashi Dorjay from Chumathang village commitee with great support of the Chumathang community.

Contact

www.tibetheritagefund.org

All photos, images and drawings are © Tibet Heritage Fund, otherwise indicated.