Swayambhu Stories About
image of Swayambhu temple
01
Mission

Protect, conserve, and document Swayambhu’s cultural heritage and diverse cultural knowledge.

image of Swayambhu temple

Swayambhu Stories is a public-facing, community engaged project that uses conservation-quality 3D model to document and preserve the unique cultural heritage embodied at Swayambhu. This project aims to elevate stakeholder voices & empower caretaker communities by making the virtual pilgrimage to this regionally-significant and UNESCO-recognized World Heritage site accessible to people across the Himalayas and the world.

image of Swayambhu temple

Goals & Outcomes:

  • Protect & conserve Swayambhu’s material cultural heritage
  • Document the diverse forms of knowledge, practice, and traditional cultural expressions associated with the templ.
  • Elevate stakeholder voices & empower caretaker communities
  • Participatory structure, best practices for cross-cultural partnerships
  • Skill training and technology-transfer are fundamental parts of project design
  • Inclusive project output acknowledges & advances diverse goals held by different communities.
image of teaching in classroom
02
Impact

Archive of intangible heritage (oral history, interviews, focus groups, recordings of rituals, and other events)

image of 3D scanner equipment used to create temple model
03
Work

Community Engagement, Research, Training, Field Work, Oral History Collection, Data Analysis, Sharing

Photo of interview

Our work will result in a conservation-quality 3D model of the temple complex and an accompanying archive of oral history and interviews with stakeholders and practitioners

Photo of Jim on roof

Annotated with text and video showing Swayambhu/Buddhism/ Nepali cultural life from the perspective of stakeholder communities