My fascination with Bhaktapur began with my first visit in spring 1977. The city immediately charmed me with its brick streets, traditional buildings and temples, wonderful carvings in stone and wood everywhere, and a way of daily life strongly evocative of everything I had ever studied about Medieval Europe. I rented a house there in autumn, 1982 and stayed on until the end of 1987. Today I look back on that period as one of the best episodes of my life. (from the Introduction).