KANJI – Tsuglag-khang
Crack in the North wall showing resulting from the outward movement of the east wall; photo Christian Luczanits.
Condition of the architecture before intervention
The Tsuglagkhang is built on an eastwards slope. The stone base on which the brick walls stand is more than a metre higher in the east than in the west. The outer face of the stone base follows the same vertical line as the brickwork above, and contains many round stones with poor bonding. When the stone base/retaining wall at the east was exposed it was found that much of the mud mortar between the stones had been weathered away, allowing the stonework to settle. This would account for the outward and overturning movement of the east wall above.
A thin battered stone facing had been built around the base byKonchok Thinlas’s father some 30-40 years ago. Although this prevented further surface erosion of stonework mortar, and brickwork on the west side, it can have had little structural effect.
The movement of the east wall opened a large crack in the southeast corner, 10cm wide at the top, and a crack in the north running through the wall. The two large external eastern buttresses, built by the Lamayuru monastery in 1996 and sponsored by Togdan Rimpoche, stopped further outward movement (confirmed by paper tell-tales placed in 2000).
Rotten crossbeams and water damage
to the murals due to the movement
of the East wall;
photo Christian Luczanits.
The brick walls, 75cm thick (11⁄2 bricks), were generally in good condition except where affected by the movement in the east. Lower courses in the west external wall had been heavily eroded by passing animal abrasion over the centuries.
The brickwork of the east porch wall had moved outwards with the main east wall, and had been eroded by rainwater running through the consequent gap in the roof. A stone pier had been built by Konchok Thinlas’s father to fill the damaged brickwork, and to provide support for the end of the main east-west porch beam.
Inside the temple the central pillar had been forced down into the earth floor, and the main east-west beam over had a deflection of 8cm in the centre. (A large flat stone was found above the central pillar when the roof was excavated, supporting the storey of the missing upper roof, and explaining the deflection of the main beam caused by the excessive point load from above). The outward movement of the east wall had reduced the seating for the eastern end of the main beam, and displaced the bracket below the beam.
The secondary beams in the northern half of the roof, mostly squared sections, were in good condition. In the southern half, smaller round poles had deflected badly, and, when the roof was opened up, were found to be extremely rotted at their seating in the south wall.
Some evidence of rot could be seen in the south ceiling boards, but when the roof covering was removed a large proportion were found to be affected by wet rot.
The roof parapet walls, exposed to the weather, were much decayed. Missing yamang/slate cappings had permitted rainwater to dissolve the inner faces of the brick walls, exposing the ends of the taloo/willow sticks of the string courses, and to damage the two external string courses. There was a considerable build-up of earth on the roof, half a metre thick at the north end. This had at least provided better protection to the wall paintings below. As the roof drained to the south, the roof covering was relatively shallow over the south wall, where the paintings had suffered extensive damage from water.
The outward movement of the east wall had opened up a gap between parapet and the roof at the southeast, with consequent damage to the paintings below.
Ceiling of the porch;
photo Gerold Ahrends.
Column of the porch;
photo Gerold Ahrends.
Wooden elements
Most of the wood which was exposed to outdoor conditions for a long time is damaged or has a corroded surface and shows multiple shrinkage cracks. The surface has several visible galleries and holes which demonstrate a former attack by insects. The occurrence of this insect damage is typical of beetles which attack only fresh wood and the mostly over-painted insect holes and the dark colour of the wood indicate that the insect attack happened long ago. The damage probably occurred shortly after the timber had been felled or the temple had been erected.
The traditionally applied red paint, due to its water solubility, is partly lost. The cohesion of the paint, but also its adhesion to the support, is poor and a result of the ageing process of this glue bonded paint. The surface oxidation of the paint has caused a darkish patina.
The surface is soiled by dust and earthen deposits caused by various temple renovation measures, and the wood in some areas has stains due to water spotting or to formerly wet earthen based coating.
Door of the temple entrance;
photo Gerold Ahrends.
The door shows signs of wear. Use of it has thinned the red paint and caused the loosening of the crossbar-and-boards conjunction.
The original ceiling parts of the interior temple (see Architectural conservation) is spoilt with soot, dust and earth. The visible water marks are caused by former water seepage or wet earth penetrating through the ceiling boards.
Fragmentary painting on the brackets;
photo Gerold Ahrends.
The fragmentary preserved polychrome painting on the brackets has lost its cohesion and adhesion to the wooden support.