CSOMA's ROOM Hu En How to make the head lama of Rangdum happy?/ project description csoma`s wheel news participants volunteers donation press downloads contact links galleryHow to make the head lama of Rangdum happy?We left Shey, but a group stayed there to finish the restoration works - a group leader, two volunteers, four local master builders, three workers and a few Ladakhi volunteers. The rest of us (two local master builders, three volunteers and our Italian partner and his interpreter) moved on towards Zanskar, in order to start the restoration of the stupa in Rangdum, the first Buddhist monastery on the way. >>> 2012 season starts in SheyIn 2012, the 170. anniversary of Csoma`s death the activity of Csoma`s Room Foundation is expanding significantly. The restoration of Zangla Palace is still our main activity, but since last year we got involved in the conservation of 7 historic stupas in the Indus and Zanskar valleys, that is financed by the Italian Stupa Onlus Association. >>> Please support our project!Long term supporter of Csoma`s Room Foundation:Supporters of Csoma`s Room Foundation 2012 works:Organization developer of Csoma`s Room Foundation:Our Travel Agency:Tool supplier:Tool providers:Our official documentarist:Our Partners:Our Media Partners:Our Partners:Saving Csoma’s Room or more?Cultural heritage preservation through sports, education and sustainable development, with volunteersThis is the story of how an independent non-profit initiation for heritage conservation learned through their own experience how to become more successful with their restoration project through paying more attention to the local community.We started up as a heritage conservation project. It took some time to realize what is the reason for the villagers to consider us still strangers after spending a lot of time with saving their local heritage. The ice broke when we offered our help in the education as well.A Himalayan village is a fragile organic texture that needs to be addressed in its social complexity, what is much more than emergency interventions on their material heritage. Through education we got a cleaner picture of their needs and nonetheless on healthy ways of cooperation to our mutual benefit. They understood more about our motivations through the eyes of their kids, than through their fellows working with us on the palace.In the remote fortified palace of Himalayan Zangla, Alexander Csoma de Kőrös a 19th century pioneer of Tibetology, wrote the first Tibetan-English dictionary and Tibetan grammar of scientific standard. His room in Zangla Palace, identified by Baktay and the neighboring shrine full of valuable relics are about to collapse.In the summer of 2008 a group of architects decided to do some emergency interventions on Zangla Palace, in order to save the room where Alexander Csoma de Kőrös started to write his dictionary in 1823.Soon our initial mission was set: to restore the building using local materials, traditional methods, local labor and enthusiastic volunteers, supported by satisfied donators.In 2010 we registered Csoma’s Room Foundation officially in Budapest, Hungary, as a non-profit organization behind our activity.Since 2008 every summer a group of international volunteers come to Zangla and join their efforts with local people to save the Palace from collapsing. Our volunteers learn about the ladakhi culture through living, eating, playing and working together with the local community. This close relationship led us to do more than mere restoration works: we found ourselves teaching, offering scholarships and providing books and stationary supply to the local schools.Our project runs on a micro-donation scheme that provides opportunity to a significant number of people to participate or support our efforts.Csoma’s Room Foundation is focusing on the sustainable use of local materials, revival of traditional skills, promotion of local economic development and education. Many of us being architects, we are eager to develop sustainable contemporary architecture practices based on the local heritage, particularly in Zanskar.Please find the actual state of our projects in the News section. Your participation as volunteer or donator is more than welcome.Csoma`s WheelIn 2008 the Kitchen Budapest media lab installed a contemporary artwork in the palace, thus ensuring a creative presence in Zangla, with respect for traditions, remembering Csoma, in a way that can be a motivating for everybody to visit the place and to donate for the restoration.More about the WheelAbout Alexander Csoma de KőrösVisitor counter since 08. September, 2010:
We left Shey, but a group stayed there to finish the restoration works - a group leader, two volunteers, four local master builders, three workers and a few Ladakhi volunteers. The rest of us (two local master builders, three volunteers and our Italian partner and his interpreter) moved on towards Zanskar, in order to start the restoration of the stupa in Rangdum, the first Buddhist monastery on the way. >>>
In 2012, the 170. anniversary of Csoma`s death the activity of Csoma`s Room Foundation is expanding significantly. The restoration of Zangla Palace is still our main activity, but since last year we got involved in the conservation of 7 historic stupas in the Indus and Zanskar valleys, that is financed by the Italian Stupa Onlus Association. >>>
Please support our project!Long term supporter of Csoma`s Room Foundation:Supporters of Csoma`s Room Foundation 2012 works:Organization developer of Csoma`s Room Foundation:Our Travel Agency:Tool supplier:Tool providers:Our official documentarist:Our Partners:Our Media Partners:Our Partners:
This is the story of how an independent non-profit initiation for heritage conservation learned through their own experience how to become more successful with their restoration project through paying more attention to the local community.We started up as a heritage conservation project. It took some time to realize what is the reason for the villagers to consider us still strangers after spending a lot of time with saving their local heritage. The ice broke when we offered our help in the education as well.A Himalayan village is a fragile organic texture that needs to be addressed in its social complexity, what is much more than emergency interventions on their material heritage. Through education we got a cleaner picture of their needs and nonetheless on healthy ways of cooperation to our mutual benefit. They understood more about our motivations through the eyes of their kids, than through their fellows working with us on the palace.In the remote fortified palace of Himalayan Zangla, Alexander Csoma de Kőrös a 19th century pioneer of Tibetology, wrote the first Tibetan-English dictionary and Tibetan grammar of scientific standard. His room in Zangla Palace, identified by Baktay and the neighboring shrine full of valuable relics are about to collapse.In the summer of 2008 a group of architects decided to do some emergency interventions on Zangla Palace, in order to save the room where Alexander Csoma de Kőrös started to write his dictionary in 1823.Soon our initial mission was set: to restore the building using local materials, traditional methods, local labor and enthusiastic volunteers, supported by satisfied donators.In 2010 we registered Csoma’s Room Foundation officially in Budapest, Hungary, as a non-profit organization behind our activity.Since 2008 every summer a group of international volunteers come to Zangla and join their efforts with local people to save the Palace from collapsing. Our volunteers learn about the ladakhi culture through living, eating, playing and working together with the local community. This close relationship led us to do more than mere restoration works: we found ourselves teaching, offering scholarships and providing books and stationary supply to the local schools.Our project runs on a micro-donation scheme that provides opportunity to a significant number of people to participate or support our efforts.Csoma’s Room Foundation is focusing on the sustainable use of local materials, revival of traditional skills, promotion of local economic development and education. Many of us being architects, we are eager to develop sustainable contemporary architecture practices based on the local heritage, particularly in Zanskar.Please find the actual state of our projects in the News section. Your participation as volunteer or donator is more than welcome.Csoma`s WheelIn 2008 the Kitchen Budapest media lab installed a contemporary artwork in the palace, thus ensuring a creative presence in Zangla, with respect for traditions, remembering Csoma, in a way that can be a motivating for everybody to visit the place and to donate for the restoration.More about the WheelAbout Alexander Csoma de KőrösVisitor counter since 08. September, 2010: