The Himalayan Towers have been true to their builders, defying gravity since time unknown. With a height of up to 60 meters, they protrude from the undergrowth that covers Tibet, in Sichuan, China.
The Himalayan Towers
Commonly called Himalayan Towers, Sichuan Towers, or Tibetan Towers, they are located mainly in the region known as Kham, a developing province in Sichuan, China. Built of stone in a valley in the middle of the Hengduan mountain that rises just over 3,000 meters above sea level, the towers have a peculiar appearance. While some are obelisk-like rectangular prism-shaped towers, others are stone pinnacles that were built with a star-like morphology.
They have eight sides each, with a star shape in the cross-section and they also narrow in an evident way towards their uppermost part. They are made of gray and ochre rocks, evidently worn by the passage of time, but they do not keep any trace that explains their existence nor the reason for their perfect engineering construction.
The most reliable data available comes from the French explorer Frederique Darragon, who dedicated a large part of her career to the study of the strange Himalayan Towers. According to Darragon’s research and carbon dating, the mysterious constructions are between 1,200 and 800 years old.
Regarding the provenance of the towers or who was responsible for their construction, the explorer writes: “Chinese experts believe that all the towers were built by Qiang ren.” The Qiang are a traditional people who are part of the 56 indigenous peoples officially recognized by the People’s Republic of China, inhabiting the entire northwestern region of Sichuan province.
Their origin is unknown
Darragon and many other historians, experts in Chinese history, have tried to decipher the mystery of the purpose of the towers; however, there are many legends about them, and none shed much light on their possible raison d’être. The towers were almost unknown until 2006 when the World Monuments Fund placed them on a list of endangered cultural sites. It was from this fact that importance was given to the star-shaped constructions on Mount Hengduan, belonging to Tibet.
Another historian, Professor Luo Xin, an expert in medieval Chinese history at Peking University, is also uncertain about the central purpose of the Himalayan Towers but believes that their purpose may have changed over geography and time, as they can be seen not only in Hengduan but also in Beijing.
While the origins of the towers are completely unknown, experts have stressed the need to preserve them, as the passage of time has taken its toll, and they are now in danger of disappearing. The locals have been trying for years to add them to the list of UNESCO Cultural Heritage Sites, but without success so far.
Story originally published in Spanish in Ecoosfera
