Yashodhara no. 1: July - December 1999

Conservation of Angkor Vat

Many new conservation issues have arisen at Angkor Vat over the past few years as a result of the increasing mass of tourists. In response to this situation, APSARA began, in July 1999, to implement an emergency plan aimed at protecting Angkor Vat against physical and spiritual degradation, as well as enhancing appreciation of the temple. This is conceived as a pilot project, to guide APSARA's future work throughout the Park.

A number of activities designed to reinstitute general order in the temple have been implemented to date:

The establishment of an APSARA guard system

18 guards in uniform have been stationed at Angkor Vat since August 1999. These guards are responsible for ensuring: that trash is properly disposed of in new waste bins; that visitors act with respect toward the temple structures; that all professional photography, filming or other documentation activities are carried out with proper authorization... These guards work in collaboration with 7 others from the Angkor Conservation and 7 employees of APSARA's Sanitation Unit to clean and ensure daily maintenance inside and around the temple.They also collaborate with a unit of the Cultural Heritage Police Corps to ensure protection of Angkor Vat's structures, statues, and visitors.

Delimitation of a vending area

A limited number of vending stands have been authorized within the temple complex, next to the northern Buddhist pagoda. Vendors are responsible for maintaining cleanliness and general order of the designated area.

Assistance to beggars in view of eliminating begging from the temple

In recent years, Angkor Vat has come to attract beggars, particularly handicapped, from all over the country. These people are frequently subject to exploitation. To respond to this problem, APSARA has solicited the cooperation of national and provincial authorities, as well as a non-governmental development agency, Jesuit Services Cambodia. This agency has provided land, material and financial assistance to 15 beggar families previously living in shacks in front of the temple, in view of enabling them to establish self-sufficient lives in a village context.

Encouraging children to attend school

Encouraging children to attend school rather than beg, fan visitors or sell beverages, food or souvenirs. Many village children work in the tourist industry, to the detriment of their schooling. The APSARA Authority has worked with village and district leaders, as well as the Cultural Heritage Police, to discourage this phenomenon. As poverty and lack of education of the children's parents themselves are at the root of this problem, APSARA is currently conceiving educational and development programs in view of creating sustainable solutions.

Other actions are currently underway, including posting signs reminding visitors to keep the temple clean, etc., placing discreet barriers in front of the gallery bas-reliefs...

A number of pedagogical measures have also been taken. These include:

- The creation of information panels (in Khmer and English), placed in key points in Angkor Vat, explaining the temple's evenemential, religious and legendary history over time, its inscriptions, architecture and sculpted reliefs

- The publication of a brochure presenting the temple's history, including artistic and religious aspects. Drawing from both scientific knowledge and collective memory of the temple, the brochure exists in Khmer, English and Japanese. Sales proceeds will be partially redistributed as bonuses to Angkor Vat's guards and police agents.

Physical preservation and restoration projects at Angkor Vat include:

- Restoration of the porch of the western entrance to Angkor Vat's uppermost level (Bakan), planned and implemented by APSARA with assistance from the international scientific community at Angkor

- Restoration of the northern portion of the western causeway by the Sophia International Angkor Mission (Japan) in conjunction with APSARA

- Restoration of the temple's northern library by the Japanese Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor

- Conservation of apsara and other stone reliefs by the German APSARA Conservation Project

Ancient Kilns in Tani Village

APSARA has been working since 1996 with local authorities and international research teams to implement a global plan for protection, research, conservation and presentation of ancient kiln sites and associated areas recently discovered in the Angkor region. While multiple kiln sites have been identified to date, most thorough investigations have been carried out in the village of Tani, Banteay Srei District.

Two Japanese scientific institutions, the Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute and the Sophia University Angkor International Mission, have been developing archaeological research in collaboration with APSARA at the Tani site. Khmer archaeology students or archaeological mission staff members are involved in all aspects of the project. After four field missions, the Nara team published a topographical map of the site. Three excavation campaigns undertaken by the two teams have revealed the basic structures of a number of kiln bodies. The most recent campaign was held in July-August 1999; excavations and follow-up research will continue on a regular basis for years to come.Information regarding this research will be published in the first issue of Udaya, a journal of Khmer studies produced by the Department of Culture and Monuments.

Alarming degradation of these sites - some of which are virtually destroyed - associated with a noted expansion of the ancient pottery trade on the black market, indicated the necessity of establishing protection measures. While some emergency actions have been taken, such as posting Cultural Heritage police temporarily at sites under investigation, the project ultimately aims to establish definitive protection of the sites concerned in developing community awareness, involvement, and capacity for protecting and preserving local cultural heritage in its associated environment. A first step in this direction was demining the Tani site. This was necessary, of course, to make the area accessible to protection patrols and research teams, yet the benefits demining brings to village prosperity is equally essential to developing local concern and capacities for site protection and conservation.

Through educational campaigns, APSARA has attempted to inform local inhabitants and authorities, as well as tourists and the concerned international community of legal and other measures taken for the protection and preservation of this cultural heritage. Brochures adapted to each of these audiences have been produced in Khmer, English and Japanese. APSARA has also held educational sessions aimed at informing inhabitants and authorities of relevant legal, historical, economic, environmental and social issues. Signboards have been posted in Tani village and its pagoda to encourage site protection by the local community. Finally, APSARA and its international partners involve the local community in many aspects of field work. Bridges accessing Tani village are repaired and maintained with local labour; villagers are hired to assist in clearing and excavation of the sites. Future on-site exhibitions will include villagers in preparation, guarding and presentation work, and will lay the grounds for community development through tourism.

Ancient Bridges along National Road 6

The APSARA Authority signed an Accord with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the World Bank in the framework of the rehabilitation of National Road 6. Under this accord, the APSARA Authority was to undertake excavations of the ten ancient bridges identified along the section of the road running from Kompong Kdei (at the border of Siem Reap and Kompong Thom provinces) to Siem Reap town. (Of the 22 bridges documented in the 1930s, many have been destroyed.) A team directed by three APSARA archaeologists devoted a full six months (July-December) to carrying out these excavations. In conformity with Article 5 of the Law for the Protection of the National Cultural Heritage, APSARA will also supervise and authorize restoration of these ancient bridges during road rehabilitation work. A circular defining procedures to be followed by the road repair company and the APSARA Authority in case of chance discoveries of archaeological artefacts over the course of rehabilitation work is annexed to the Accord.

The Ta Nei Training Program

After years of planning, a five-month training program at Ta Nei temple, financed by the Japanese government, and implemented by a consortium of three institutions, APSARA, ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) and SPAFA (SEAMEO Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts), with support from UNESCO, was begun in November of 1999.The major goal of the Ta Nei Training Program is to provide advanced on-site training to national technicians (archaeologists, architects and engineers) in view of developing the core of a professional technical team for site management. 20 trainees were selected by a 4-member jury from amongst graduates of Phnom Penh's Departments of Archaeology and Architecture (Royal University of Fine Arts) as well as the Institute of Technology.

Ta Nei temple was chosen as the training site for a variety of reasons. Situated in an isolated area to the northeast of Angkor Thom, the temple provides an ideal quiet setting for training. The ruined state of the temple surrounded by dense forest also makes it an interesting case study from multiple points of view, including architectural conservation, stone treatment, vegetation control and archaeological research. Physical facilities, including an open-air classroom, an office and storage area and latrines, have been constructed on-site.

The first month of the training program (November 1999), managed by APSARA, is designed to allow the students to develop an intimacy with the Angkor site, including its geography, the evolution of man-made infrastructures over time, its general history, and the religious, artistic and architectural characteristics of civilisation on the Angkor plain over time. Trainees are also introduced to the history of site management, and current administrative and legal structures governing work at Angkor, as well as to the different restoration and research programs currently being carried out in the park. Time is split between theoretical presentations in the classroom and visits to different areas across the region. Each international team working at Angkor has given the group thorough on-site presentations of work in progress.

The next project component includes a general presentation of conservation theory by ICCROM specialists, as well as short sessions on international legal mechanisms for cultural heritage protection, forestry in the Park and labour-based technology. The final three months of the program will be principally managed by SPAFA and ICCROM specialists in archaeological excavations, stone architecture conservation, stone treatment and analysis, etc. During this period, the students will be divided into groups according to specialisation, with archaeologists working under SPAFA's direction, and architects and working with ICCROM. Exchange between the groups will however be encouraged in order to build the basis for the interdiciplinary work necessary for future site management. By providing a solid general understanding of the site and its management structures during the first month of the program, followed by advanced training in increasingly technical matters, the Ta Nei program aims to contribute to the creation of a group of professionals capable not only of implementing technically sound maintenance and conservation work across the Park, but also, and most importantly, of conceiving this work from a global perspective.

Emergency Measure

Every year the monsoon season, with its heavy winds and rains, puts temple structures in the Park at particular risk. This past year has been no exception. It was especially during the months of July and August that storms brought down a number of trees, some of them onto ancient temples. A large branch of a tree growing inside the Ta Prohm complex fell directly onto one of the temple structures. Using a wooden scaffolding raised in the narrow space available around this structure, APSARA spent more than a month removing the branch and inventorying the damaged stone blocks. A number of trees lining moats or ponds around the Park also fell, necessitating their removal. One such case was a large tree in front of the southern moat of Angkor Vat; another was along the western edge of Sras Srang. APSARA attempted to resolve these problems as quickly as possible, in order to ensure the flow of traffic in the Park, and the saftey of its visitors and structures. It should be noted, however, that APSARA does not presently have the equipment and personnel necessary to implement this kind of work on a regular basis or a large scale efficiently.

Restoration Site Inauguration Ceremonies

1. The northern "library" of the Bayon temple, in a state of near collapse for years, was recently restored by the Japanese Government Team for the Safeguarding of Angkor. Completed this year, the restoration work received the approbation and praise of an international committee of experts. Her Majesty the Queen of Cambodia honored the JSA team and its admirable work by presiding over the inauguration ceremony celebrating the completion of the northern library's restoration on September 29, 1999.
2. On October 9, 1999, the French Minister of International Cooperation, Charles Josselin, along with Her Royal Highness Princess Bopha Devi, Cambodian Minister of Culture and Fine Arts, presided over the inauguration of the restoration of Angkor Thom's Elephant Terrace. The restoration of this Terrace and its spectacular decor was carried out by the Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient.

The APSARA Authority's Internet Site: www.autoriteapsara.org

With the assistance of a student intern, APSARA has worked intensely since July of 1999 to develop an internet site which was first conceived more than one year ago. The English and French versions of the site are virtually completed and fully available on-line; the Khmer version is still under construction, and therefore only partially available. Visitors to the site can:
- keep up to date on national and international efforts for the safeguarding and development of Angkor;
- consult national and international legislation regarding the protection of the Khmer cultural heritage;
- learn about on-going restoration of temples in the Angkor region;
- explore urban development plans for the town of Siem Reap and tourist development strategies for the Angkor Park
- become acquainted with Angkorian civilisation through its history, its temples and its art
- discover on-going research and publications of APSARA : Udaya Review of Khmer Studies, Yashodhara bi-annual bulletin, books and brochures... Some material can be purchased through the site.
- contact APSARA for further information.

Restoration, Conservation and Research at Angkor

Below is a list of restoration, conservation and research projects currently underway in the Angkor region. For want of space, we can not enumerate here like work already completed or planned for the future. Nor can we mention the many other kinds of development projects that national and international institutions are currently implementing in the area.

1. Angkor Vat
- Restoration of the western entrance causeway by the Sophia University International Angkor Mission (Sophia University) in conjunction with APSARA;
- Restoration of the northern "library" by the Japanese Government Team for the safeguarding of Angkor (JSA);
- Restoration and conservation of apsara and other bas-reliefs by the German APSARA Conservation Project (GACP).

2. Angkor Thom
- Baphuon: Restoration of the entire temple by the Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient;
- Prasat Suor Proat: Restoration of the two southernmost towers of the northern complex, and archaeological excavations in associated areas, by JSA;
- Royal Palace site: Restoration of the eastern entrance gate by the Indonesian Technical Assistance for Safeguarding Angkor team (ITASA) and APSARA;
- Archaeological research on past habitation patterns and urban organisation in Angkor Thom. The project, entitled "De Yaçodharapura à Angkor Thom" is carried out by the Mission Archéologique Française au Cambodge / Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient;

3. The Angkor Park and Associated Sites
- Chau Say Tevoda: Completion of preliminary studies and beginning of restoration by the Chinese Government Team for the Safeguarding of Angkor (CSA);
- Pre Rup: Restoration of the southeastern towers of the outer enclosure by Italian experts from the Ge. S. Ingegneria, Geotecnica e Strutture (Geotechnical and structural engineering), s.n.c.;
- Banteay Kdei: Archaeological and other research, structural consolidation and conservation of the entire temple, by Sophia University;
- Preah Khan: Clearing, structural consolidation, conservation and restoration by the World Monuments Fund;
- Preah Ko: Stucco conservation, foundation restoration following excavations, by international experts financed by the German government;
- Ancient kilns of Tani village: Archaeological research by Nara National Cultural Properties Institute and Sophia University in close collaboration with the APSARA Authority;
- Research on the infrastructural evolution of the Angkor region through analysis of satellite and radar imagery, by the Department of Archaeology, School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS), London
- Research on measuring units employed in ancient Khmer architecture, by the Russian Angkor Foundation.