Nekorpa is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting sacred pilgrimage sites and supporting the living spiritual traditions that sustain them. We work in partnership with local communities, monastic institutions, scholars, and conservation organizations to preserve places of cultural, ecological, and spiritual significance.
From 2009 to 2015, Nekorpa led projects across the Himalayas and South Asia that supported pilgrimage culture, protected sacred landscapes, and strengthened contemplative traditions. Through collaborative partnerships, these efforts helped safeguard both physical sites and the knowledge, practices, and communities connected to them.
Following this initial phase, Nekorpa entered a planned pause while its founder, Matteo Pistono, conducted long-term research and authored several books on pilgrimage, meditation, and socially engaged Buddhism.
Today, Nekorpa is entering a new chapter. Building upon its earlier work and longstanding relationships, the organization is renewing its commitment to sacred landscape preservation, cultural stewardship, and community-based initiatives.
What We Do
Nekorpa works to ensure that sacred pilgrimage landscapes remain vibrant, accessible, and spiritually alive. Our initiatives include:
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Supporting community-led conservation, sanitation, and sustainable livelihoods, including grants to small businesses
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Restoring and protecting pilgrimage routes, sacred sites, and threatened cultural landscapes
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Supporting practitioners and communities who sustain living contemplative traditions
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Publishing multilingual pilgrimage guides that preserve local knowledge, oral histories, and sacred traditions
Why the name Nekorpa?
གནས་སྐོར་པ
གནས་སྐོར་པ (Nekorpa) is a Tibetan word meaning pilgrim.
The name combines three syllables:
གནས (Né) — a sacred place or consecrated landscape
སྐོར (Kor) — to circumambulate, travel around, or journey through
པ (Pa) — one who engages in that activity
Together, གནས་སྐོར་པ (Nekorpa) refers to a pilgrim: someone who journeys through sacred places in search of meaning, connection, and transformation.
