The City of Patan

Patan, Lalitpur, or \"Yala\" as it is known by its inhabitants, the Newars, is one of the three great cities of the Kathmandu Valley, which is the historical center and cultural heart of Nepal. The settlement began as a number of villages situated on a fertile plain above the Bagmati River, probably threaded along a trail that can still be identified as a diagonal within the modern street pattern. According to mythology. Patan was created in the 6th century by King Birecva. He was instructed by Sarveshvara, a form of Shiva, to establish a city in the form of a yantra, an auspicious symbol having 9 jewels in the center, 8 protective deities on the periphery, and 24 city sections.
 
Study of the streetplan, however, suggests that the city grew without planning. Symbolic placements and a network of sacred places were probably later imposed on the settlement. For example, four large earthen stupas which may be 1600 years old and define the city limits, only approximate the cardinal directions. They seem to be more clearly oriented to the great trade routes that brought the city prosperity.

At the crossing of these two major routes is the Darbar Square, defining the center of the city both physically and spiritually. The more public squares of the city are generally the sites of Hindu temples, often in the form of multi-tiered pagodas. In addition, every neighborhood has a shrine to a deity who accepts blood sacrifices, which are compulsory for certain rituals. The city\\\\\\\'s historical growth radiated out from the Darbar to include 166 Buddhist monasteries, housed in courtyards of varying size. These quadrangles-called baha or bah-constitute some of Nepal\\\\\\\'s most important contributions to world architectural heritage. The Baha/bahi is a two-storied building, square in plan with open arcades (dalan) defining a courtyard. One or more diminutive Buddhist temples (chaitya) are located on the central axis of the courtyard between the entry and principal shrine. The Patan museum building exemplifies how
the baha/bahi form has been adapted to befit a Hindu king. The medieval form of the city probably changed very little until the Rana era (1846-1951) when the rulers built European-style palaces on the farmlands to the East and extensive temple complexes along the Bagman River. During the second half of the 20th century, urban sprawl came to Patan: new construction filled up the remaining fields surrounding the old city and many historic buildings within the city core were replaced by reinforced concrete structures.