At the beginning of the 19th century, Kathmandu’s Tundikhel was used for military parades, which first brought the Nepal Army into the massive open space in the heart of Kathmandu.

By the late 20th century, the army had become entrenched in its parade grounds, cordoning off most of the main field and also encroaching upon the portion south of Shahid Gate where it built a recreational area. The army, despite protests, continues to build new structures, while the local community and the general public have no access to the area.

Tundikhel once constituted one large undivided open space, almost five kilometres in length and 300 metres in width, from Tindhara all the way to Tripureshwor. But today, it is barely half its original size, as successive governments from as far back as Pratap Malla and the Rana regime to the present-day federal government continue to divide up Tundikhel.

Read: The tragedy at Tundikhel

First, Pratap Malla, in 1671, commissioned the Rani Pokhari to be built on the northern portion of Tundikhel. The Rana regime in the late 1800s and early 1900s slowly chipped away at the grounds. Then, in the early 60s, Ratna Park and Khula Manch were separated, and Dashrath Stadium was built to the south. The local community and city residents had no say on any of these disruptions.

Editorial: Tundikhel in its entirety should be open for public use

More recently, the Khula Manch section of Tundikhel, half of which is being used as a parking area and the other half as a temporary bus park, made the news after a private builder illegally constructed and rented out over 40 commercial stalls to shopkeepers.

During the Dashain holidays last month, there were efforts to blacktop the temporary bus park in Khula Manch. The clandestine move, backed by Kathmandu’s mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya, was roundly opposed by locals and activists and has once again stirred up calls for “open space, ecology and cultural rights”.

These photos, captured by US Peace Corps volunteers in the 1960s and 70s, show how massive Tundikhel once was and how locals and city residents used it for recreation, sports, as a street market, a theatre, and for religious and state events.

To see more photo essays in the series, visit tkpo.st/eka-deshma