Citadel of beauty
Swiss experts are helping to restore a small but stunning Hindu temple on the outskirts of the ruined city of Angkor Wat in northwestern Cambodia.
The team of architects and conservation specialists are using original material found at the site of the tenth century building to bring it back to its former glory.
The building is a jewel of Khmer architecture and this is reflected in its name – Banteay Srei or “citadel of beauty”.
It’s an enchanting sight: adorning the walls of the richly decorated temple are nymphs carrying lotus flowers and youths holding spears.
But the temple’s beauty is fading as the building is badly in need of restoration. Broken stones litter the floor and vegetation is running wild.
There are signs of subsidence as well, as rainwater has seeped into the foundations, causing the temple to sink into the ground.
Swiss help
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDA) is helping to restore and conserve this architectural gem, under the guidance of the G + S architecture studio from Burgdorf in the Emmental.
The project is expected to take three years and is costing SFr900,000 ($660,000).
The SDA and the architects, Rolf Grossenbacher and Ueli Salzmann, are using “soft” restoration techniques to ensure that the building is conserved in its present form rather than being completely restored.
Original material
This means carrying out minor rebuilding or restoration work using original material – the broken parts of the building that are lying on the floor of the temple.
Another aim is to reconstruct the original drainage system work so that rainwater no longer finds it way into the foundations.
To help them, the architects are using plans and sketches, which were made by a French team that carried out restoration work on the temple from 1931 to 1936.
The plans were stored in the archives of the Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient in Paris.
The documents show that the temple is constructed in three rectangular levels, each of different size and height, which are linked to each other by means of galleries and rows of pillars.
Visit
The project was launched following a visit to Cambodia in 1996 by the former Swiss cabinet minister, Jean-Pascal Delamuraz.
Delamuraz offered financial help in the reconstruction of world heritage sites which had been neglected during the Khmer Rouge regime.
It was money well spent. With 500,000 visitors per year, Angkor Wat is one of the best performers in the Cambodian economy – only the textile industry makes more money.
The authorities are setting their sights on further developing the area for tourism and are hoping for over one million visitors in 2005.
But there is still controversy about exactly how and in what form the development should take.
Responsible tourism
Willy Lenherr, the SDC project manager, admits that the protection of cultural goods and the development of tourism are not the key aims of the SDC. But he says the conservation of monuments for use in tourism can be important for developing countries.
In addition to the restoration of the temple and the passing on of their skills and knowledge, the Swiss team see it as their job to encourage an environmentally friendly and responsible approach to tourism.
With this in mind they are working closely with local workers and with the Cambodian Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the region of Siem Reap (Apsara), which is responsible for the temple.
Although Apsara is still a relatively young and small organisation, it has until now successfully campaigned against plans for karaoke bars, sound and light shows, and escalators to the top of the temple.
And one of the only ways for the building to avoid such glitzy additions is to rely on the financial help and expertise of international organisations such as the SDC.
swissinfo, based on an article previously published by NZZ
Swiss experts are helping to restore a small Hindu temple on the outskirts of the ruined city of Angkor Wat.
The project is expected to take three years and is costing SFr900,000 ($660,000).
It was launched following a visit to Cambodia in 1996 by a former Swiss cabinet minister, Jean-Pascal Delamuraz.
With 500,000 visitors per year, Angkor Wat is one of the most visited sites in Cambodia.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.