Études mongoles et sibériennes,
centrasiatiques et tibétaines
55 | 2024

Mapping Amdo III. Dynamics of Relations andInteraction, followed by Varia

Harrison John, Mustang Building. Tibetan Temples andVernacular Architecture in Nepal Himalaya
Kathmandu, Vajra Books, 2019, 396 pages, photos and architectural
drawings in black and white, ISBN 978-9937-0-6942-7
Gerald Kozicz

Electronic version
URL: https://journals.openedition.org/emscat/6628
DOI: 10.4000/126m5
ISSN: 2101-0013
Publisher
Société des études mongoles et sibériennes
Electronic reference
Gerald Kozicz, “Harrison John, Mustang Building. Tibetan Temples and Vernacular Architecture in Nepal
Himalaya”, Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines [Online], 55 | 2024, Online since
19 August 2024, connection on 24 October 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/emscat/6628 ;DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/126m5

This text was automatically generated on October 24, 2024.
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Harrison John, Mustang Building. Tibetan Temples and Vernacular Architecture ...

Harrison John, Mustang Building.
Tibetan Temples and VernacularArchitecture in Nepal Himalaya
Kathmandu, Vajra Books, 2019, 396 pages, photos and architectural
drawings in black and white, ISBN 978-9937-0-6942-7
Gerald Kozicz

REFERENCES
Harrison John, Mustang Building. Tibetan Temples and Vernacular Architecture in Nepal
Himalaya, Kathmandu, Vajra Books, 2019

Seeing Mustang buildings through the eyes anddrawings of an architect

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Harrison John, Mustang Building. Tibetan Temples and Vernacular Architecture ...

1

John Harrison’s Mustang Building comeswith a programmatic cover image: an oldpath leading towards an accumulation of
Himalayan houses along a row of stupas,
some of them of the passageway type. A
group of villagers are almost completely
absorbed into the background. The
photograph is taken from a higher
position, and the picture completely
excludes the sky while it captures a broadriverbed in the valley, the cliffs, and abarren landscape. The photograph is ingreyscale that avoids spotlight on any of
the components of the image. Allcomponents melt into one another – andthis is what the book is about: thecomplexity of the whole, the interplay ofthe various building types, the integrationof different functions expressed througharchitectural forms and manifest in
spatial configuration. The title of the book, in black letters with its subtitle Tibetan
Temples and Vernacular Architecture in Nepal Himalaya, and the author’s name below
appear like a caption – a confirmation of what is already clear from the image. The
choice of this specific setting for a cover page reflects more than the topic as such. Thewell-designed row of stupas which guide the traveller along the trail towards thevillage houses resonates with travel and arrival. And this is another major facet of thisbook. It is the story of the journey of an architect, the story of an actual physical travel
but also a travel through time. Harrison introduces the architecture of Mustang
through a sort of architectural travelogue, the result of roughly 30 years of experience,a slow approach – via overland routes from the UK to Nepal at the very beginning –which soon became a life mission.

2The central pillar of the book and the storytelling is Harrison’s intense use of handdrawings. The hand-drawn survey sketch of Gonpa Gang, Tshug, on the second page of
the “Foreword” not only introduces the methodology. It invites the reader toexperience the architecture of Mustang through the fundamental representation ofarchitectural thought and understanding, that is, drawing – in this case the notes fromthe architect’s sketch book which grasps the various moments of first encounters witha new architectural language. Harrison’s sketches archive a process of learning.
Sketching an object or space – or rather things that define a specific space – is morethan an aesthetic exercise. It is a reflection of an analytic process with its immanentlogic. This has been perfectly summarised by Barbara Wittmann (2008, p. 69) who also
states that drawing forces the draughtsman or draughtswoman to look into details.
While in the drawing, details come to the foreground, the whole or overall setting still
remains in the picture. Wittmann further states that drawing is a slow process thatenhances a gradual, deeper understanding of the subject under survey – thus, theexperience gained through drawing has a major impact on generating new knowledge(ibid., pp. 70-71).

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Figure 1. Survey sketch section, 1996

© Harrison 2019, p. 195, fig. 6.68
3

Now printed in a well-designed book, Harrison’s sketches and drawings invite thereader to follow the author in that process. Sketches and drawings constitute the first
language of the architect to communicate the essence of an architectural context. And
like with any other language it requires practice and time to extract all the qualities
and data embedded in the lines and annotations. In this regard, three double pages
stand out, namely, 194-195, 286-287, and 314-315 discussing the Jamyang Chosang Bista
House at Gemi, the Ghasa Village Gate, and Kag Gönpa. On these double pages, thesurvey drawings of the respective buildings face the final plans. The direct comparison
not only reveals the consistency regarding aesthetic quality but also testifies to theaccuracy of the sketch. The sketch becomes the major source from which the analysis
sets out. In the specific case, it is the result of decades of practice in the field and aperfect interplay between hand, eye and mind.

4While Harrison avoids using any vectorised CAAD plans, his publication includes theworks of others who adhere to hand drawings. The slightly different styles – just likedifferent handwritings – of the various draughtsmen and architects who contributed tothis volume can easily be grasped. Their drawings are valuable documents as some ofthem were produced by scholars of previous generations while others show buildings
prior to significant repairs or even collapse before Harrison got a chance to visit them.
And many of these drawings are also works of art which are sometimes neglected orunrecognised. Their individual styles add to the overall visual and academic quality.
While the beginning of the book provides a detailed overview of previous Western
travellers and scholars and their contributions to the research on Mustang, therespective Acknowledgements section for the drawings is only at the end of thevolume. Therefore, this review provides the opportunity to point out that starting with

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the first page, this book may also be read as an appreciation of a tradition thatcombines artistic skills and analytic thought. And as any tradition it requires several
individuals who establish and uphold it – in this case several of them from Nepal.
5For practical and aesthetic reasons explained in the “Introduction”, the publication
exclusively employs greyscale photographs. This secures aesthetic consistency within
the photographic part but, first of all, avoids a visual clash with the line drawings. Toquote the author from page 11 of the “Foreword”, “I think it better reveals the stark
character of the landscape and buildings of Mustang, allowing the eye to concentrateon form”. Harrison is absolutely right as his photographs not only capture the technicaland structural aspects of the various buildings and settlements, but also theatmosphere of specific spaces – in particular light as the major creator of thecharacter of a certain place at a certain moment in time. The small Mahakala Templeand Rani Gönpa, Tukche, photographed in the morning dew, may be mentioned here. In
contrast, images like the one showing the village of Dzar in front of the mountains toits west completely lack the atmosphere of diffuse light and shadow but create a deep
sense of what it means to settle in the arid high-altitude valleys and the impact ofnature as the major factor to struggle with. Even images which seem to have a strong
focus on the technical aspects of architecture, such as the depiction of the Dukhang of
Gönpa Gang on page 324, provide more than just information about the structural andspatial parameters. While the architectural details of the temple’s wooden
construction, the brackets, the ceilings, and also the spatial setting are well captured in
the photograph, there is something more – something even unusual in it. The notion ofan uncanny valley finds its explanation on the following page. It is the absence ofreligious activities which are usually so firmly tied with the picture of a Buddhist
temple. As the author notes, this temple was abandoned by the community of nuns
decades ago and only one single caretaker has stayed. The absence of an actual
religious occupation based on daily ritual while the temple has been so well maintained
becomes only too visible in the image. The essence of a place, either architectural ornot, is beyond the technical and built structure – and this is what Harrison’s images
convey – or quoting Christian Norberg-Schulz’s Genius Loci (1996, p. 8): “A place is [...] aqualitative, ‘total’ phenomenon, which we cannot reduce to any of its properties, suchas spatial relationship, without losing its concrete nature out of sight”.

6With a few exceptions all the photographs in the book are by the author. And all ofthem – even those with an obvious focus on technical and architectural aspects – comewith this additional layer of storytelling. Just as on the cover page, Harrison neverstaged his photographs but captures the daily life of the people in a natural way,
literally in passim e.g. the stupas of Tangye with a woman passing by (p. 284).

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Figure 2. Dzar from the east, 1996

© Harrison 2019, p. 78, fig. 4.49
Figure 3. Tangye chörten

© Harrison 2019, p. 284, fig. 7.80

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7The fact that Himalayan architecture cannot be explained and understood throughpurely technical studies is also obvious from “Chapter Five”. While Harrison discusses
the various materials and methods applied in the building process in great detail, hedoes not miss out to point out the significance of pacifying the gods and spirits that areconsidered the true owners of the land. The rites are briefly described (page 128) before
the author, himself an experienced restoration architect, directs the focus of discussion
towards the building materials and components. The methods of construction offoundation walls, rammed-earth walls, mud-brick walls and wooden structures are well
documented and – again – well illustrated by photographs and drawings. When it
comes to wooden constructions such as doors and window frames, axonometric(isometric) drawings are used to explain the forms and methods of assembling thecomponents. John Harrison starts with basic aspects and slowly proceeds to more
complex forms. And with the greater complexity the reader also climbs the ladder ofsocial hierarchy expressed in architecture; that is, towards religious and aristocraticarchitecture where not only structural sophistication but also symbolism expressed
through decoration come to the foreground.

8A similar gradual ascendance is also reflected in the overall structure of the book. At
the very beginning, Harrison clarifies the meaning of Mustang as the name of a systemof valleys cut by the Kali Gandaki River and its tributaries with its headwater beyond
the Himalayan Range on the Tibetan Plateau. Following the introductory chapters onhistory and geography, the author opens the actual architectural discussion with
“Chapter Four” on settlements. The approach is both through history as well as
through form and structure. It sets out with a brief mention of cave dwellings which
are roughly 2000-3000 years old and continues with the dense, fortified village
structures of Te and Tshug. It continues with more open and outspread settlements andonly towards the end reaches Lo Manthang (page 106), the modern (?) capital of Upper
Mustang and former royal capital built on a square urban layout in the middle of the15th century. While the placement of Lo Manthang as this point clearly defines ahighpoint, it is clear that the focus of the book is on the vernacular aspects.

9The central chapter in the book is thus “Houses”. It introduces a number of houses ascase studies to explain the metabolism of the house. One house, however, is selected toexplain the complexity of that metabolism in its entirety – in the words of the author,“to examine one house in detail to illustrate the interrelation between the physicalform of the building and its social and religious use”. This sub chapter explains thevarious functions of the house of the family of Angyal Gurung at Dzar from store room
to kitchen and living area, and how this system is adapted to changing conditions
through the seasons. It explains the interrelation of the house as a social system withthe gods and spirits inside the house (house altar) and outside (rigsum gönpo/stupas of
the three protectors on the roof and protective symbols on or above the door). This
chapter summarises and contextualises all the aspects that constitute a house as theplace where humans live – physically and metaphysically.

10Finally, “Sacred Buildings” is the longest chapter of the book. It discusses all thevarious forms of religious structures from single installations such as relief sculpturesof protectors flanking the gates of villages to stupas and cave shrines and further on tomonasteries and temples. Its highpoint and end at the same time is a study of thetemples of Lo Manthang and their history. The “Afterword” then is a return to thepresent, a brief retrospect on the whole book and a summary of the changes that have

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occurred over the last 30 years; that is, since the opening of the region for tourism.
Since then, a couple of academic reports have been published about Mustang primarily
focusing on its Buddhist culture and its temples. What makes Harrison’s work stand out
is the broad perspective on the subject, the big picture that is based on the vernaculararchitecture rooted in and developed in correspondence with the landscape andclimate, and, above all, the long stretch of time he covers with his documentation.
Mustang Building is a modest title for this book which is, of course, at the same time adocumentation of changes and a documentation of loss. Like any other book that deals
with vernacular architecture and traditional systems, it is full of references to buildings
and technologies which might be gone or even forgotten soon. Mustang Building is abook about a fading tradition. It is thus an invaluable contribution to our attempts topreserve at least our knowledge of an architectural tradition where physicalpreservation is no longer possible. It is above all a remarkable book about Mustangarchitecture drawn and written by a dedicated architect.
Figure 4. Tsarang monastery and chörten, sketch© Harrison 2019, p. 289, fig. 7.86

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Norberg-Schulz, Ch. 1996 Genius Loci. Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture (New York, Rizzoli).

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Wittmann, B. 2008 Das Porträt der Spezies. Zeichnen im Naturkundemuseum, in C. Hoffmann(ed.), Daten sichern. Schreiben und Zeichnen als Verfahren der Aufzeichnung (Zurich-Berlin,Diaphanes), pp. 47-72.

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