As his eyes wander over clean glass-encased exhibits, Jal Krishna Shrestha is filled with a sense of pride. "We're small but we're unique. You'll find everything you wanted to know right here, very clearly and very easy to understand," says the museologist in charge of the country's best-kept museum.

Since he took over as director of Patan Museum when it opened in 1997, Shrestha has overseen the management, exhibitions, and the maintenance of this semi-autonomous, self-sustaining project. Till a year ago, the museum had an annual surplus of Rs100,000 from entry fees, sales from the museum shop, the restaurant, and publications. But earnings this year have gone down because of the tourism slump.

Even so, Shrestha is happy with the response of visitors. Nothing deters dedicated culture enthusiasts, large groups of school children, and an increasing number of young Nepalis from visiting the museum. Last year 75,000 children from schools around Nepal visited. Besides being a repository for rare religious objects, the musuem has a very strong educational role. Exhibits include an entire section on the cire perdue lost wax process and the repousse method of metalcraft, a comparison of the various monuments in Kathmandu Valley, the spread of Buddhism in Asia and one on stupa architecture. The museum's strength is in its architecture, the display of exhibits, and the clear, precise bilingual labels to all exhibits by art historian Mary Slusser.

Shrestha has a degree in Nepali history, culture and archaeology, and has one complaint. The Lalitpur sub-metropolitan city recently decided to collect entry fees to Patan Durbar Square right next to the museum premises. "It's not a very good idea and discourages potential visitors who might want to visit the museum but feel that paying two entry fees just within a couple of feet is a waste. We've asked the city that if they must collect town entry fees, it should be further away from the museum."