September 2011, Daily News

A Great Ancient Angkor Temple Complex to Rise Again

Sat, Oct 22, 2011

The casual visitor to this site might ask:  "Why didn't the world know about this place before?"

In almost every way, its architectural and artistic grandeur impresses the onlooker much like the famous Cambodian temple complex of Angkor Wat.

But comparatively fewer people know of its existence.

That will change, but there is work to do. Many of its structures and magnificent bas reliefs will need to be restored and reinforced, as this place has been the victim of years of jungle overgrowth and relentless looting.  

The site is called Banteay Chhmar (the Citadel of the Cats), an ancient Khmer Empire center in Northwest Cambodia that could be considered "off the map" by most accounts in the popular media. Its isolation could have something to do with that. Unlike its better-known ancient sister sites of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, it is significantly less accessible to the modern tourist. It is, however, considered one of Southeast Asia's great ancient architectural masterpieces, representing a significant achievement of the Khmer Kingdom’s epic 900 - 1200 C.E. Angkorian Period.  It was built near the end of the 12th century by King Jayavarman VII , in similitude to the other temple plans he had established in Angkor. A one-kilometer arcaded enclosure surrounded the temple, carved with bas-reliefs that relate the story of the Ancient Khmer, depicting battles and royal processions. This massive temple, along with its surrounding shrines, reservoir (baray), and enigmatic face-towers, constitute one of the most significant, yet, today, least understood ancient religious complexes of the Angkor period. Its remote location saved it from the historic Hindu iconoclasm reaction that damaged most of the other Khmer temples of Angkor, and so archaeologists hope that it will reveal new information about the ancient Khmer culture. Even now, some major new features of Khmer Buddhist art have been discovered there.

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Core Map of the Banteay Chhmar temple complex. Courtesy GHF.  Prepared by Adam R. Dunbar, 2009.

The complex consists of a dried baray (about 1.6 by 0.8 km) that had a temple on an artificial island, called a mebon, at its center. There are three enclosures. The external one is about 1.9 by 1.7 km and surrounded by a moat. The middle enclosure, also surrounded by a moat, measures 850 by 800 m. and contains the remains of the main temple surrounded by a gallery, the third enclosure, adorned with magnificent reliefs.  

In addition to the main temple and the mebon, there are eight other temples. Four unfinished stelae detailing Jayavarman VII's genealogy were set at each of the corners of the third enclosure wall, much like the stelae that were placed at the corner-shrines of Angkor Thom, Jayavarman's capital city.

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Angkor-style architecture and decor characterize the face of Banteay Chhmar. Credit Loreth_ni_Balor, Flickr.

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This image gives a sense of the true scale that these Bas-reliefs present around the outer walls of the temple complex. Text from GHF. Photo courtesy GHF.

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West wall of Banteay Chmar's third enclosure. Prince fights a demon/enemy.  Wikimedia Commons

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The results of laser scanning reveal a stunning glimpse at the intricately carved stone Bas-reliefs and document them in high resolution. Text from GHF.  Photographer: © IWR / University of Heidelberg / GHF / Banteay Chhmar Conservation Project / Ministry of Culture & Fine Arts   

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But while archaeological investigations aim to clear the mysteries, the most urgent need is to arrest its deterioration and collapse, in addition to establishing ways to prevent looting and create a long-term plan to protect, restore and develop the site for tourism and posterity. Indeed, the need is so important to the Cambodian government and people that their Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts has placed it among the top-listed sites for nomination to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, which will hopefully raise its profile and open up new resources for its development and sustainability as a major cultural site.

"Banteay Chhmar remains vulnerable to looting, which has already had a significant impact on the site’s sculptural remains, while structural instability and tree growth threaten to topple the extant standing architecture," reports an official of the Global Heritage Fund (GHF), a California-based non-profit organization dedicated to conservation and restoration of cultural heritage sites in developing countries.  "In its present state, the Banteay Chhmar temple complex constitutes a significant danger to visitors who are generally oblivious to the structural instability of the stonework. The temple complex is overgrown with vegetation and many areas are in danger of imminent collapse, while sections of the outer enclosure walls are no longer structurally sound and are in need of urgent temporary support to prevent further collapse." [1]

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A large portion of the outer SE wall of Banteay Chhmar was ripped out by looters and smuggled to the Thailand border. However, the looters and their ancient booty were intercepted there, whereupon the stones were returned to the government of Cambodia and now reside in a museum in Phnom Penh. http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/01/world/raiders-of-lost-art-loot-temples-in-cambodia.html  Text from GHF. Photo courtesy GHF  Year taken: 2009   

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Extreme example of tree growth having serious affects on temple stability. Text from GHF.  Photo courtesy GHF.

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Collapsed stone blocks inside the temple complex.  Text from GHF.  Photo courtesy GHF.

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Following the heavy monsoon rains of 2009, portions of Face Tower #18 became destabilized and threatened collapse. Photo courtesy GHF.

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To address these threats, GHF has, in collaboration with Cambodia's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and in partnership with a number of organizations such as the South Asian Conservation and Restoration Agency (SACRA), embarked on a plan and strategy to save and develop the site by placing it "back on the map", not just for tourists and other visitors, but for the local Cambodian stakeholder communities, as well.  This has involved the development of a "Master Plan" designed to establish a long-term balance between conservation needs, access for visitors, and sustainable economic development for the local community. Trained archaeological excavators have been investigating the stability of its structures, as well as the nature of its hydrology - the location of and management of its traditional water sources.  People of the local community are being trained in conservation science and technique.  "The training program for seven stone conservators has been very successful," reports a GHF official. "The team has undergone formal training in both Khmer history as well as the theory of stone conservation..........the team is now working on the stones of the bas relief with monitoring from the Khmer conservator who taught them. This was a unique training program in that the whole course was taught by Khmers in Khmer."[1]  To handle what they hope will be increased tourism, a plan for community-based tourism is being developed and implemented by training future guides as well as small tourism business owners and workers, focusing on the most disadvantaged rural residents.

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Following GHF’s "Preservation by Design" model, the primary conservation goals and development goals for the Banteay Chhmar project are: master conservation planning and expanded site protection, preservation of the bas-relief galleries, stabilization of the central temple complex, community tourism development and training, and assisting the Cambodian government in the UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination and inscription process.  Text from GHF.  Photo courtesy GHF.

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Local workers stabilizing the southeast corner of the Banteay Chhmar temple complex.  Text from GHF.  Photo courtesy GHF.

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It may be years before Banteay Chhmar will take its envisioned place as an equal among the best known and most popular archaeological sites of Southeast Asia.  For now, its comparative mystery suffices as a draw for visitors and researchers alike, and it could be taking a place among locations globally as a laboratory for how conservation, cooperation and local community development can make a difference.  

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[1] Global Heritage Fund, Banteay Chhmar project site.