GHF in the News - 2010 News Archives

British Royal visits Banteay Chhmar

August 2010

A member of the British Royal Family, HRH the Duke of Gloucester, has made a private visit to the Banteay Chhmar conservation project in Banteay Meanchey province in northwest Cambodia.

Banteay Chhmar represents one of the most important archaeological complexes of the Angkor period which was completed during the reign of Jayavarman V11, king of the Khmer Empire from 1181-1215. It comprises a massive temple, several satellite shrines and a disused reservoir.

In 2008 the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts handed over control of the temple to the California-based Global Heritage Fund, a non-profit organisation which works to safeguard the world’s most endangered cultural sites.

The GHF is training a team of local workers in a bid to conserve the largely collapsed temple complex which has been subjected to substantial looting over the years. It’s hoped that Banteay Chhmar will eventually join the Temples of Angkor and Preah Vihear as Cambodia’s third UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site.

The 65-year-old Duke, who is first cousin to Queen Elizabeth II and patron of the International Council on Monuments and Sites in the UK, arrived by helicopter from Siem Reap having flown over several neighbouring historical and archaeological sites.

He was accompanied by the British Ambassador to Cambodia, H.E. Andrew Mace; and John Sanday, the GHF field director heading the restoration project at Banteay Chhmar.

During a two-hour tour, Mr Sanday emphasized the importance of training craftsmen in the principles of conserving a site of great historical significance. The Duke toured several workshops to see how missing and damaged stonework can be replicated or repaired using specially-made chisels made at the project’s own blacksmith’s forge.

After sampling a Khmer lunch, the Duke returned to Siem Reap to attend a reception hosted by the British Ambassador for the resident British community in the city. The following day, the Duke visited the Temples of Angkor.