Yashodhara no. 5: July - December 2001

Infrastructure in Angkor Park

In order to improve visitor services, we are installing toilets at eleven additional locations within the Park. Before constructing each toilet building, we carefully excavate its planned site in order to ensure that the new building is not built on ancient remains.

With the help of French government aid (AFD), APSARA Authority is presently building two new roads. These two roads run from the Angkor Tourist City (please see Yashodhara #2), one leading towards Angkor Park, while the other enters the town of Siem Reap. The first road leaves Angkor Tourist City and runs west, meeting the road leading to Angkor Vat near Jayavarman VII Hospital for Children. This road crosses the Siem Reap river over a bridge which is being built as part of this project. The second road runs from north to south, leaving the area east of the "Angkor bridge" (east of Angkor Vat) and running south to meet National Highway 6 in Chong Kau Sou village, 200 meters from market Psar Leu. These two new roads, each about 60 meters wide, together cover a distance of 8 kilometers.

Maintenance in the Park

When there is heavy rain, blocks of stone often fall from some temples. In order to stop their collapse, we are constantly and immediately intervening with temporary supports which are inserted as stop gap measures before permanent repairs and restoration can be made.

Daily maintenance is one way to help to lessen the amount of serious damage to the temples. These photographs show examples of everyday work by maintenance teams in Angkor Park.

Today in Angkor Park seven international institutions are working on maintaining, restoring the temples. The Ecole Française d'Extrême Orient (EFEO) is working on therestoration of the Baphuon.

Supports reinforcing the terrace wall of Bakheng temple.

Cutting, removing, and killing the roots of small trees which were growing on the tower of the temple of Baksei Chamkrong.

Restoration Work Sites

The Japanese Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor is restoring the library north of Angkor Vat in addition to studying the master plan of Bayon and restoring Prasat Suor Prat. The Sophia University (Japan) is restoring the causeway to Angkor Vat as well as maintaining and researching the temple of Banteay Kdei and the ancient kilns at Tani. The World Monument Fund serves as conservator of the temples of Preah Khan and Ta Som. The Italian Team (I.Ge.S) is preparing to restore a part of moat bank of Angkor Vat, which collapsed some years ago, as well as continuing to restore Pre Rup temple. A German team (GACP) is conserving and restoring the sculptures found on Angkor Vat, while a Chinese Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor (CSA) is restoring the temple of Chau Say Tevoda.

Chau Say Tevoda

Prasat Suor Proat

Research Work Sites

Recently, a team from the University of Sophia (Japan) uncovered 274 fragment pieces of sculptures of the Buddha while pursuing a research excavation in Banteay Kdei. This is a very important finding for archaeological research on Angkor. Most of the uncovered statues are sculpted from sandstone; a small number of the statues are made of metal. When the research is completed, these pieces of Buddha will be kept in the storerooms of Angkor Conservation.

Publications & Communication

We have just published a series of documents for internal use by the APSARA Authority which include maps showing Angkor zoning, archaeological sites, hydrology, forest, geological formations, and soil types in the region of Angkor. These internal documents were prepared by the Geographical Information System Unit using documents provided by Angkor GIS and the Royal Angkor Foundation.
 
Publications for the general public: A Guide to Angkor Thom published in separate English, French and Khmer versions
3 documentary videos on Angkor, Past, Present and Future
Video #1: Angkor, crossroads of civilizations
Video #2: Local Communities and Tourism
Video #3: Remembering and Preserving the Past These videos are narrated in Khmer with English and French sub-titles.
The videos are shown on National Television.

Research

On December 11th, 2001, the APSARA Authority signed an agreement with the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo (NRTICPT) to engage in collaborative research regarding the temple surroundings, the protection of their environment, as well as methods by which to clean temple stones. The collaborative research plan was approved by the International Coordinating Committee for Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC). For the first phase of this research plan, we have installed a machine measuring environmental factors such as humidity, wind velocity and direction, temperature, and rainfall at Ta Nei temple.

At the beginning of 2002, a joint campaign between APSARA Authority and the University of Sydney (Australia) was initiated in order to pursue archaeological research on "Greater Angkor Project". This research project relies on small excavations, coring and sectioning to ancient embankments walls, moat and canals in order to investigate earth layers.

The research project on ancient kilns at Tani village has almost been completed (see Yashodhara #3). In the future, the APSARA Authority will collaborate with the Nara National Cultural Properties Research Institute (Japan) and Sophia University (Japan) in order to establish a conservation plan for the Tani area which will include work to reinforce the structure of kiln A6, reconstruction of kiln B1, as well as a covering structure to protect these ancient kilns.

Training

At the beginning of 2002, we are preparing for another 5 months training program (3rd Ta Nei Training Program). This Training Program has 25 participants chosen by examination from a pool of 55 applicants. The participants are graduates of the Departments of Archaeology and Architecture of the Royal University of Fine Arts, the National Institute of Management, National Institute of Technology, Faculty of Law and Economics and Maharishi Vedic University. This training program is staffed with the help from international institutions such as the University of Bologna (Italy), the University of Cologne (Germany), the Kanazawa University (Japan), the Japanese Government Team for the Safeguarding Angkor, the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient, SPAFA, and FSP (France).

In addition, the APSARA Authority has funded national and international lecturers to assist in the training program in order to offer a complete curriculum.

Through an invitation from SPAFA (Seameo Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts), which has its secretariat in Bangkok Thailand, employees of the APSARA Authority who had already completed the first Ta Nei Training Program, were sent on 10 days workshop on Cultural Resource Management in Thailand. This visit is an example of the ongoing training which we offer to our employees.

In order to reinforce the quality of tourist guides at Angkor, the Ministry of Tourism has collaborated with the APSARA Authority to provide short training sessions for tourist guides. Employees of the Department of Culture, APSARA Authority, offered two week short courses to guides on such topics as "History and Civilization of Angkor", "Khmer Ceramics Industry", "Communities of Angkor", and "Environment of the Tonle Sap".

Saving Heritage

We often receive information from villagers, national institutions, or international agencies that they have found antiquities in the forests, in the fields, or along rivers. APSARA Authority collaborates with several concerned authorities in order to report the finding and to bring the artifacts safely to the storage facilities of Angkor Conservation.

Inscriptions are a type of cultural heritage which are most susceptible to damage. In order to save the precious heritage of inscriptions, the APSARA Authority will propose a plan for making copy rubbings of inscriptions in the Angkor region beginning next year.

Traditions

As in all areas of the country, villagers in the Angkor region still celebrate the ceremony of "Sampheah Preah Khae" (Salutation to the Moon) each year. These photographs show the ceremony being held at Angkor Vat. Local people in the Angkor region call the ceremony "Ak Preah Khae".

Official Visits

Angkor frequently receives visits by foreign dignitaries. During the second half of 2001, we welcomed:

Madam MEGAWATI Sukarnoputri, President of the Republic of Indonesia

H.E. Mr. TRAN DUC LOUNG, President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

Their Imperial Highness Prince and Princess AKISHINO of Japan