The Taragaon Museum is housed in the circular Hyatt Regency building adjacent to Bodnath, a landmark piece of modernist architecture designed by the German architect Carl Pruscha in the 1970s. The building was originally a hostel for researchers and architects working on the UNESCO project to document and preserve the Kathmandu Valley's historic monuments.
The museum documents that preservation effort and the history of foreign engagement with Nepal's heritage. The building itself is the most interesting thing on display: a concrete cylinder with walkways spiralling up through an open atrium, flooded with light. The photo archive of the valley's temples and courtyards, many now damaged or destroyed by earthquakes, is genuinely moving.