GHF in the News - 2010 News Archives

Duke Tours Conservation Effort at Banteay Chhmar

June 2010

Following an official visit to South Korea during which he represented Britain’s Royal Family, the Duke of Gloucester flew in to Seam Reap City on Saturday night for the sole purpose of touring Banteay Chhmar temple in Banteay Meanchey Province and a few monuments at Angkor.

The Duke, born Prince Richard of Gloucester, spent yesterday morning at Banteay Chhmar, where British conservation architect John Sanday showed him restoration being done on the 12th-Century temple.

The 65-year-old duke, who is a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth, is patron of the International Council on Monuments and Sites in the UK and highly interested in heritage conservation, said Mr Sanday who is in charge of Banteay Chhmar’s restoration.

“The Duke is actually an architect,” he said.  ”He was very keen to come … here and at Angkor, one of the reasons being that as a VIP tourist, no doubt; he was in Cambodian in 1969.”

Although the Duke’s visit was a private one, provincial governor Oung Oeurn and local dignitaries were on hand to welcome him, and British Ambassador Andrew Mace accompanied him.

The restoration of Banteay Chhmar was launched in 2008 by the organization Global Heritage Fund in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture with plans to submit the site for inclusion on the UN World Heritage List, on which the Angkor Archaeological park and Prea Vihear Temple already appear.

“Banteay Chhmar is a site of global significance that has been under studied and conserved,” said James Hooper, Global Heritage Fund UK Manager, who was at the monument yesterday.  ”GHF is taking the opportunity to act as a catalyst to reverse these trends.”

Unlike monuments at Angkor, which French archaeologists started rescuing from the jungle more than a century ago, Banteay Chhmar has never been restored. Built during the reign of King Jayavaraman VII, it is on of only three monuments - along with Angkor’s Bayon Temple and Angkor Wat - to feature elaborate wall carvings.

One of the problems Mr. Sanday’s team faces is that one section of the wall with carving has weakened to the point of collapse because of tree roots that have extended next to it.

“The pressure of these roots is enormous,” said Mr. Sanday, who has been restoring monuments in Cambodia since 1992.  “We discovered there were really no good foundations under the bas-relief wall.”

On Sunday, the Duke of Gloucester returned to Siem Reap City, where he toured an exhibition at Hotel de la Paix on the first contemporary stone sculptures ever created by Cambodian artists as part of a project by sculptor Sasha Constable.

He arrived in South Korea on June 22 for ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. He is scheduled to leave tonight.