<h2>Empirical climbing</h2> There have been many books and even films made about George Mallory and Andrew Irvine who disappeared below the summit of Mt Everest exactly 100 years ago.&nbsp; But on this centennary of their expedition, The Last Englishmen: Love, War and the End of Empire by the American biographer <a href="https://deborahbaker.net/biography/" target="_blank">Deboarah Baker</a> (<a href="https://asiasociety.org/converts-tale-exile-and-extremism" target="_blank">The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism</a>) puts the 1924 British attempt to climb the world’s highest mountain in political, geopolitical and cultural context. The Last Englishmen reads like historical fiction, but it actually a meticulously researched backgrounder on two main protagonists: a geologist and a surveyor — both siblings of famous British poets of the era. Geologist John Bicknell Auden is older brother of poet Wystan Hugh Auden (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ascent_of_F6" target="_blank">The Ascent of F6</a>), and the map-maker Michael Spender is the brother of anti-Fascist poet Stephen Spender (<a href="https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-think-continually/" target="_blank">I Think Continually</a>).&nbsp; The cast of characters in Baker’s book seem to be suffering post-traumatic stress of World War I, and are drawn to the pristine tranquility of the mountains, the Himalaya in particular. Badly bruised by the loss of so many young men, Britain itself needed healing, and the conquest of the world’s highest mountain was seen as a way to redeem some of the empire’s tarnished glory. The fact that Mt Everest had to be accessed through India (because Nepal then was closed off) also meant that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/1921-rendezvous-mallory-pumori-and-everest" target="_blank">British could use a successful ascent</a> to prove that it was a civilisational force different from other European powers bent solely on extraction and exploitation of their colonies.&nbsp; India was going to be ruled differently, which is probably why Baker used the famous Jawaharlal Nehru quote (“I am the last Englishman to rule India”) for her title of this book. Other characters include other British explorers Eric Shipton and Bill Tilman (‘the terrible twins’ of mountaineering) who between them have at least four high Himalayan passes named after them across Nepal. Then there are the Bengalis in Calcutta, including the poet Sudhin Datta (of <a href="https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/curtains-on-the-adda-1502905694.html" target="_blank">Parichay Adda</a>) who caught between his Anglophilic disposition and the tug of Indian independence. It is easy to get lost in Baker’s story-telling because she multitasks — weaving so many strands into her tapestry. But at the epicentre of it all is Mt Everest and the British drive to get to the top first (before the Americans and especially the Germans) even amidst India’s independence struggle. Although The Last Englishmen came out in 2018, it is during the centennary of the most celebrated mysteries of mountaineering that it should be read because of Deborah Baker’s effort to give us the state of affairs in the period between the world wars. In one telling sentence, she summarises: ‘… the tortured conceit that Everest, a mountain that wasn’t even in India, was a proxy for England’s global domination.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240525030544_a8b6e203c4a84cb07caabc826b6a600685c40136a8b6ef082a065f3deab1639b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240525030544_a8b6e203c4a84cb07caabc826b6a600685c40136a8b6ef082a065f3deab1639b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The Last Englishman NT"> </figure>  <h2>Guiding Everest</h2> <a href="https://adventureconsultants.com/our-guides/guy-cotter" target="_blank">Guy Cotter</a>, a mountaineer and mountain guide whose father was a climbing buddy of Edmund Hillary, has been organising expeditions to the Himalaya for over 20 years.&nbsp; He was at Everest Base Camp during the tragic spring 1996 season when 8 climbers died in a blizzard near the summit. In fact, Cotter was talking on the radio to Rob Hall high on Everest and patching him to his pregnant wife back in New Zealand. The event was depicted in the 1989 film Everest and the 1997 bestseller by Jon Krakauer.&nbsp; Everest Mountain Guide is a guidebook on how mountaineering has changed (or not changed) since the military style assaults that began with the early expeditions 100 years ago. Cotter, now 58, took over the company <a href="https://adventureconsultants.com/" target="_blank">Adventure Consultants</a> after Hall died, and has himself climbed Everest five times. The book is a memoir of Cotter’s mountaineering career, from his first climbs in the New Zealand Alps to the Himalaya. Besides being a rivting story, it also gives us a behind-the-tent peek into the bureacuratic, technical and organisational challenges of leading expeditions to the world’s highest mountains. Cotter ends the book with self-reflection on the impact of large guided expeditions, the draw of the Himalaya that leads to overcrowding, and the media’s obsession with everything to do with the highest mountain in the world.&nbsp; In the meantime, foreign guides now have competition from Nepali-run companies like <a href="https://www.eliteexped.com/" target="_blank">Nims Purja’s Elite Exped</a>, Tashi, Mingma, and Chhang Dawa’s <a href="https://www.sevensummittreks.com/" target="_blank">Seven Summit Treks</a>, <a href="https://14peaksexpedition.com/" target="_blank">14 Peaks Expedition</a> of Kami Rita (who on 22 May climbed Everest for the 30th time), or <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mingma.g/?hl=en" target="_blank">Imagine Nepal of Mingma Gyalje</a>. &nbsp; Cotter writes about them: ‘I have been amazed by the meteoric rise of many (Sherpa climbers) … during this ascendancy they have maintained their spirit and grace and unique character.’ But Cotter is critical of the absence of Nepal government oversight, and says this presents an opportunity for local stewardship of the mountains.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240525030544_0c7132339c521cb842518730c72d41322a0a92c06ae9e10fd2211bda1fb8a74d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20240525030544_0c7132339c521cb842518730c72d41322a0a92c06ae9e10fd2211bda1fb8a74d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Everest Mountain Guide NT"> </figure>  <h2>Unsung heroes</h2> Besides the debate about siege expeditions and pure alpine style climbing in the Himalaya is the related contention that while western climbers get all the attention and fame, the guides who help them get to the top are anonymous.&nbsp; The Ice Fall Doctors on Mt Everest, the teams that fix ropes right to the summits so that their clients can jumar up go largely unmentioned. Their work is much more dangerous because they are exposed to risky areas of the mountains for longer periods. The under-recognised role of Nepali climbers was highlighted by Nims Purja in the Netflix film 14 Peaks. Since then, Nepalis have started setting up their own expedition companies (see above) and many are not just high altitude guides but are world-class climbers themselves. Some of this historical injustice is set right by Canadian author of mountaineering chronilces, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/voytek-kurtyka-unleashed" target="_blank">Bernadette McDonald</a> in her latest book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Alpine-Rising-Sherpas-Triumph-Climbers/dp/1680515780" target="_blank">Alpine Rising: Sherpas, Baltis, and the Triumph of Local Climbers in the Greater Ranges</a>.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.bernadettemcdonald.ca/" target="_blank">McDonald</a> digs into the history of mountaineering to find that behind every first ascent that made Western climbers celebrities is a Sherpa, Rai, Gurung, Balti or Hunza that made the climb successful.&nbsp; In Alpine Rising, McDonald, &nbsp;goes back to the early German expeditions in the 1930s to Nanga Parbat in which dozens of Nepali high altitude porters were killed. Maurice Herzog’s first 8,000er ascent of Annapurna is famous in mountaineering history, but McDonald says not many people know about Ang Tharkay Sherpa who not only helped carry loads to the peak, but physically carried the frostbitten Herzog down. More recently, Alpine Rising recounts the fist fights on the Lhotse Face between Sherpas and Simone Moro; how Pakistani climber Ali Sadpara is sidelined in expedition chronicles; and the high altitude guide Muhammad Hassan who collapsed on K2 and climbers stepped over him for their summits.&nbsp; But things are changing, and there were two iconic moments on K2: the 2014 ascent by three Nepali women climbers, Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita, Dawa Yangzum Sherpa and Maya Sherpa and the 10 Nepali climbers led by Nims Purja who literally marched to the summit of K2 singing Nepal’s national anthem in 2021 — the first winter ascent of the world’s second highest mountain.&nbsp; There is a tectonic shift happening in Himalayan mountaineering, and the tragic, happy and funny details from the earliest expeditions to climbing in the age of Instagram are in the pages of Alpine rising.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240525030544_219beda832b28e3e1321cafe787e10a0eaac3939ac226d2375019befc2cb9371.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20240525030544_219beda832b28e3e1321cafe787e10a0eaac3939ac226d2375019befc2cb9371" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Alpine Rising NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;

Kunda Dixit

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Mountains of books

Fenerbahçe Beko won the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague finals in Abu Dhabi, held 23-25 May, defeating Monaco 81-70 in the final. Olympiacos, who defeated Panathinaikos 97-93, finished the series in third place. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match, Nigel Hayes-Davis from Fenerbahçe Beko, received a prize of 1,000,000 Miles&amp;Smiles from Turkish Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Ahmet Olmuştur. The carrier has been the title sponsor of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a top tier tournament, since 2010.

Turkish Basketball

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

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Turkish to Seville

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