Connecting with local and international audiencesPreserving Artefacts and Sharing Knowledge: One Year in Our Nepal Project

3 April

Bhagwat Dhakal (left), Campus Chief of the Nepal Sanskrit University, visited the CSMC Kathmandu branch office, where he met with Bidur Bhattarai (right), Coordinator of the preservation project. In turn, Bidur came to visit the Balmeeki Campus on the same day, where he and Bhagwat were joined by other members of staff. On this occasion, Bidur had the chance to see the library building and to inspect the manuscripts and rare books collection. The collection is in poor condition, and measures to preserve the manuscripts have to be taken as soon as possible. On 23 August, Bhagwat came to the Āśā Saphūkuthi for a follow-up visit.

13 April

Suresh Kiran Manandhar (2nd from right), editor-in-chief of the Nepalbhasa Times, and Ajay Kranti Shakya (left), a former member of parliament, visit the Āśā Saphūkuthi and familiarise themselves with the preservation measures that are being carried out there.

22 May

Govinda Neupane (left), a member of staff of the National Numesmatic Museum of Nepal, and several of his colleagues visit the workplace and learn about its purpose.

23 June

A visit from someone with a personal connection to the archive: Alok Siddhi Tamrakar (left) is a relative of the founder of the Āśā Saphūkuthi. Here, he gets an introduction into how the archive works today.

26 June

Madan Tuladhar (right), President of the Yuwa Bauddha Samuha (‘Youth Buddhist Committee’) of Kathmandu visit the workplace.

5 July

In July, the Āśā Saphūkuthi welcomes visitors with a scholarly interest in our work: Rémi Chaix (right) and Kunsang Namgyal-Lama (left) are based at the Centre d’Etudes Himalayennes in France.

16 July

Shailendra Man Bajracharya (2nd from left), member of parliament in the Bagmati Province (Kathmandu 8A), Sagar SJB Rana (right), Chairman of the Nepal Art Council (NAC), and Swosti Kayastha Rajbhandari (left), member of the NAC, get to know the Āśā Saphūkuthi.

24 August

Bidur Bhattarai visits the Śrī Bṛhadādhyātmikapariṣadaḥ (BAP) at the Mrigasthali temple and meets with Yogi Shrishnath (4th from left), president of the BAP, and other Yogis. Among other items, the BAP holds over 600 manuscripts produced with traditional paper and palm leaves. They were part of the collection of Yogi Naraharinath (1915–2003), a famous Nepalese historian, author, and Yogi who belonged to the Natha tradition.

25 August

A visit from Sagar Raj Subedi (middle), Chief Librarian at the Tribhuvan University Central Library (TUCL), and Bijaya Sharma (right), information officer at TUCL..

27 August

Yadav Chandra Niraula (middle), undersecretary and coordinator of the library, and an officer of the Ministry of Education, Technology and Science of Nepal visit the Āśā Saphūkuthi where they get an introduction to the preservation work and meet with Bidur Bhattarai. Both guests expressed their deep appreciation of the work that is being done at the archive.

1 September

Every year in the month of Bhādra (August/September), Nepal celebrates the Library Day, organised by the Ministry of Education, Technology and Science. On this occasion, libraries, archives, or individuals that have significantly contributed to the field of libraries are honoured with awards. In 2023, the Āśā Saphūkuthi received a prize for its outstanding engagement in the preservation of handwritten artefacts and manuscripts. Bidur Bhattarai played a vital role in the nomination process. The award was handed over by Ashok Kumar Rai and Pramila Kumari of the Ministry of Education, Technology and Science, and received by Kashinath Tamot (4th from left), a board member of the Āśā Saphūkuthi.

3 September

Ramesh Ranjan Jha (2nd from right), an actor, director, and social activist, visits the Āśā Saphūkuthi.

10 September

A group of secondary school students from the Kankeshwori School in Kathmandu come to the workplace to learn about the preservation measures carried out at the Āśā Saphūkuthi, showing a lot of excitement about and interest in our work on manuscripts and written artefacts.

17 September

Indra Prasad Adhikari (2nd from left), President of the Nepal National Library Association (NNLA), participates in a session of in-situ work.

6 October

A group of Chinese visitors learns about the preservation activities at the Āśā Saphūkuthi.

24 November

26 pupils attend a hands-on programme at the Āśā Saphūkuthi, learning about some basic preservation measures, different writing supports, materials, writing systems, scripts, and how to handle handwritten artefacts. This is followed by a practical session in which the attendants learn how to clean manuscripts step by step and how to digitise them.

29 November

Suresh Yadav (right), head of the Kaiser Library, visits the Āśā Saphūkuthi.

1 December

Bidur Bhattarai visits the Nepal National Library (NNL) in Sanothimi, Bhaktapur, on the invitation of Dashrath Misra, Head of the NNL. On this occasion, he briefly inspects the premodern printed rare book collection of the library.

1 December

Bidur Bhattarai visits the Tribhuvan University Central Library where he meets the new chief Sagar Raj Subedi (right), Parbati Pathak (2nd from right), and other members of the library. During the visit, he also conducted a follow-up inspection of the preserved manuscripts collection at TUCL.