John Sanday, OBE

“Sanday is quite a rare name in England,” says Architect John Sanday, OBE. “I believe it is derived from Sanday Island in Scotland.” A fitting name, one must say, for a man of rare abilities. And yes, he is right. ‘Sanday’ doesn’t even figure in the listing of surnames of inhabitants of Orkney Islands, of which Sanday is said to be the “'jewel in the crown' of Orkney’s 5,000 years of human habitation.”

John Sanday lives in Cornwall on the south western peninsula of the British Isles which has a rich history. Although evidence of Early Stone Age habitation is virtually non- existent here, a new race is supposed to have come to Britain from Europe around 8000 BC, some of whom found their way to Cornwall. New migrants from the Mediterranean began to arrive around 4500 BC and these sea faring wanderers stayed back. Around 800 BC people referred to as Celts by the Romans arrived from across the channel. These Celts are usually considered to be the real ancestors of today's Cornish, Welsh and Breton people.

So, it is probable that John Sanday is of Scottish ancestry and has the blood of Celts running in his veins. With so much history behind him, it is small wonder that John, even as a young man, was drawn towards magnificent historical buildings, and early on, it must be presupposed, had decided to make conservation of these sentinels of human civilization, his life’s mission. “Yes,” he says emphatically. “Restoration and conservation  of old buildings is my heart’s desire. My passion.” Today he can claim to be one of the leading architects specializing in the restoration of historical buildings and monuments, and was suitably recognized for the same by being conferred with the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2004.

He first came to Nepal, in November 1970, as a UNESCO consultant, assigned with the responsibility of making an inventory of monuments within the Valley. The tall architect remembers, “I was given only a month’s time to complete the task. Of course it was too short a time for such a momentous work.” After six weeks in Kathmandu, Sanday, a youthful twenty seven then,  sent back a succinct three page report suggesting instead the setting up of a program to restore historical buildings since he had discovered many to be on the verge of falling apart.  In due time, he was invited by the Nepalese government to explore just such a possibility and he recalls, “Ramesh Thapa, the then chief of the Department of Archeology, showed me around different sites himself and finally asked me to do something about Hanuman Dhoka.”

Sanday was dismayed at the gross neglect around this particularly important site. That aside, Sanday, who had already had some experience in such projects, having done some fairly important restoration works while in England including Cambridge House and Chevening House at 7 Oaks ( owner: Prince Charles), set about the task by chalking out a program planned out over four phases. “Since we had to complete the work in time for the Coronation in 1972, we decided to work on the main courtyard where the ceremonies were going to be held and of course, the façade. Happily, we succeeded in doing so, and what’s more, managed to do so within the given budget of  $ 72000.”

The Hanuman Dhoka project heralded the beginning of John Sanday’s career in Nepal. During this project Sanday initiated and set up a training program – one at the professional level for architects specially, and the other, for craftsmen, with particular emphasis on the use of ‘appropriate technology’. He says, “While doing restoration work in England, I had become familiar with avante garde know-how and I decided to introduce it here but obviously with suitable modifications.” Sanday also has some interesting asides about the above mentioned project. “I think we probably did the first seismic retrofitting work in the country on one of the Hanuman Dhoka towers and I believe we innovated new ways to water proof jhingati tiles.” With about 300 hundred people working on the project, including almost 50 wood carvers alone, it was what would be, the beginning of a very interesting five year period (1972 - 1977) in Sanday’s professional life. Sanday adds, “It was due to the good team work that we could succeed. I must specially mention Engineer Hari Ratna Ranjitkar as a valuable colleague during this time.”

Sanday hits the nail on the head when he says that working on such projects require more skills than just as an architect. “I am a hands on person,” he declares. “During my time in England as a restorer, I had learnt not only to deal with bureaucracy but also with the laborers on the lowest rungs. This experience was of immense help here as well.” When asked as to what difference he had found initially between doing similar work here and in England, he laughs and discloses, half jokingly, “At first I was often referred to as the ‘Conversation Architect’ here. People were so completely unaware of conservation issues.” However, even if that were true, Sanday relished in the prospect of working as he seemed fit in a scenario where he would be completely free to make his own rules as he went on unlike back in Briton where, according to him, “There are very strict guidelines for such work there. Here it was so liberating to be free from similar strictures.”

He went back to England in 1977 during which time he published a book called ‘Kathmandu Valley Guide’. “It was quite popular,” he remembers. The fact that Kathmandu then was very much on the map as a Mecca of the flower generation must surely have boosted sales. At the end of 1978, he returned to Kathmandu. UNESCO wanted him to stabilize the Swayambunath structure which, by all accounts, was falling down the hill on which it was situated because of the shifting hill top. He recalls, “We did some ‘frightening’ excavations beneath the two conspicuous towers there and went down to 25 feet – right down to the bedrock. We discovered that the foundations were on a ledge, with always the risk of ‘slippage’, and so, were unsound from the day they were built.” He was appointed the UNESCO representative for a year, after which time he was asked to return home.

John Sanday was reluctant to do so, and along with the late Engineer Hari B Shrestha, set up John Sanday & Associates. In the next few years the firm was busy with a variety of works which included ‘Terres de homme’ hospital in Jorpati, the Banepa Hospital (won through a design competition), adventure tourism related assignments including Tiger Tops in Chitwan. Then, Sanday joined the Getty Foundation as consultant to their grant program, in which capacity he traveled the world and learnt a lot about the process of fund raising as well as about what other people were working on in different parts of the world. He admits, “Although it was an educative experience, I hated to live in Los Angeles.” So, bitten again by the Asian bug, Sanday went to Cambodia where he set up the Cambodian monument program and set about using his Hanuman Dhoka experience on restoration of the legendary Angkor Wat  temple. “Since the Khmer Rouge had destroyed everything, there was an acute shortage of skilled labour,” he remembers. “I set up training programs but it was made all the more difficult because of language problems.” Sandy laughs, “They did not understand English, and their French was worse than mine.”

According to Sanday, restoring the 12^th century stone Buddhist monument located on 56 hectares of land and surrounded by dense forests, was very difficult and challenging work. Shortage of skilled labour was compounded by fund shortage as well. In short time, the program had people from 12 nationalities working together. Sanday says, “I believe we were the first international group to work on the site.” Sanday also admits to learning about the symbiosis between architecture and environment while working at Angkor Wat. He worked with the Getty Foundation for three years, and reveals, “The Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust was formed at their initiative.”

Back again in Nepal, Sanday, on the request of the American Himalayan Foundation (AHA), took on a conservation project in Upper Mustang. “People there were decidedly skeptical of foreigners, perhaps because of their exposure to the type of tourists visiting them,” he says. “Convincing them was a task in itself.  Fortunately, Richard Blum of the AHA had good relations with the Rajah and I asked him to do something.” The walled city of Lomanthang had 300 households and about 800 inhabitants. Sanday says, “It had a medieval setting dating back to the 14^th century.” Sanday’s primary job was to repair the roof over the Lo Manthang monastery, which was on the verge of collapse. “It was risky work because the point of collapse was directly above the main deities – three clay Buddhas.” Sanday brought in three carpenters from Kathmandu and asked them to train a group of local carpenters. Sanday says, “This was one of the great ‘unsung’ achievements of the program.” The work progressed to the restoration of the wall paintings as well. Two Italian artists were called in to assess and restore the paintings. Besides, they were also asked to train locals in the art of wall painting. “Now there are 40 young people who have been trained in wall painting, “disclose Sanday. He is justifiably proud of this too, and reveals, “Recently, some of them even went to Tibet as trainers.”

Sanday thinks that there is no collaboration between different departments / organizations in Nepal leading to hampering of preservation of heritage sites. “It is almost impossible to get consensus to implement and follow up recommendations,” he says. He also feels that there are very few organizations fighting for the cause of conservation. “There was a phase in the past when there was a fervour for Nepali architecture,” he says. “But it was really just putting a ‘veneer’ on traditional architecture. What was needed was actually a move towards building to scale.” He adds candidly, “I believe Nepal lost control over planned development some 15 to 20 years ago, and the emphasis has always been more on punitive measures as opposed to constructive ones.” At the same time, even while lamenting the lack of control in the historic area, he is happy to see a growing awareness about preservation today. According to Sanday, Kathmandu Valley seems to be making management plans based on retrospective futile efforts which he declares, “Doesn’t work.”

In retrospect, he thinks the following should have been taken into account beforehand: 1. the creation of buffer zones around heritage sites 2. Decentralization, which could have prevented industrialization in the Valley. On the other hand, looking towards the future, Sanday is bent on writing books. “One will be a technical one on conservation, while the other will be one on the Mustang project,” he says. An autobiography could also be on the cards. Between the past and the future, Sanday is convinced that there are hundreds of historical buildings in need of restoration here and feels that the Kathmandu Durbar Square, along with its surrounding environment, is in desperate need of renewed conservation efforts. He cites the Kastamandap and Taleju temples as prime examples of historical edifices which must be given more use so that they continue to be preserved, or in other words, new uses must be found for such old buildings. Sanday also says that the whole of the Ason area should be conserved, and to do this, quite drastic measures are needed. It is of course natural for Sanday to be so concerned about the Hanuman Dhoka and its environs, seeing that he did start his career here. And it is likely that he could possibly be busy around the same site again, if not forever, then certainly for a long time.

Well, it does seem life is coming full circle for the man from Cornwall.