Cambodia, UNESCO sign agreement to continue safeguarding Angkor Wat Temple

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Government of Cambodia and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Thursday signed an agreement on safeguarding of the Angkor Wat Temple, one of the World Heritage sites.

The deal was inked between Sok An, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in charge of the Council of Ministers, and Anne Lemaistre, UNESCO Representative to Cambodia.

The two-year phase II project will be focused on the restoration of an extension span of the moat embankment at the Angkor Wat Temple, said Rome University's Professor Valter Maria Santoro, head of the Italian technical mission for stone consolidation in the temple.

Speaking after the signing ceremony, Sok An said that the second phase project will cost 250,000 U.S. dollars including 200,000 U.S. dollars granted by Italian government and 50,000 U.S. dollars by Cambodian government.

Researcher keeps watch on Angkor Wat for half a century

Everybody knows that you are not allowed to write graffiti on the wall of historical architecture. It’s a common sense. However if a graffiti has not been found for a long time, over a few hundred years, it can be a part of the architecture. This is a graffiti written by a Japanese samurai in the 17th century, over 200 years before a French naturalist Henri Mouhot discovered it in 1860. If you have a chance to visit Angkor Wat, try to find this graffiti! It’s not easy to find it. Of course, don't follow him!

Jun. 24, 2012
The Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan)

For half a century, Yoshiaki Ishizawa, a former president of Sophia University, has studied and worked to preserve the World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Ishizawa, 74, is now preparing to guide Crown Prince Naruhito when he visits the complex on Thursday.

Many of Ishizawa's Cambodian colleagues were lost in the massacres perpetrated by the Pol Pot regime and the nation's civil war. He has also seen the temples deteriorate, but he continues to offer assistance, saying, "I want Cambodians to preserve these great ruins."

"I want to tell the crown prince about Cambodian Buddhism's worldview (sic?), which is carved in a gallery," Ishizawa said.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Angkor Wat

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Angkor Wat and other temples scanned in 3D

Dear Readers,

Lok Bora Touch has informed us that the following website allows a 3D view of Angkor Wat as well as a few other temples:

http://archive.cyark.org/angkor-intro

The 3D image was obtained by a process called digital capture. Hopefully, with time, more detailed information will be able to allow us to view all the Khmer temples right from our computer screen.

Thank you again Lok Bora Touch!

KI-Media team

ANGKOR WAT - FIRST EXPEDITION TO CAMBODIA 1880/81

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgQXFkDjs60

Cambodia World Expo 1878-2010 : Angkor & Royal Dance & Palace

Cambodia world expo begins since 1878 building a small part of Angkor Thom in Paris Expo then in 1889 Angkor Wat was built in Paris expo again. In 1906 France received King of Cambodia HM Sisowath and Royal Ballet. French Artist Rodin was in love with Cambodian Royal Dance so he followed and drew a lot of pictures and exposed in his Rodin Museum in Paris today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyknCr9d0Oc

The Cambodian Experience

July 17, 2010
By CECILIA S. ANGELES Manila Bulletin Publ. Corp.

Despite applying sun block cream on my uncovered skin, I still got a good, lasting souvenir from my Cambodian trip when I went there together with a friend from Sta. Barbara, California, Maria Macabio, who is also a photographer. And that was sunburned face, arms, and legs. We were among the thousands of tourists around the world, falling in line and waiting under direct sunlight for our turn to climb the Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap City, Cambodia. The Khmers were prosperous from the ninth to the thirteenth century, but deserted the place in 1443 because of the constant attacks of the Thai armies in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The ruins of Angkor remained buried in the jungle until French archeologists started restoring the heritage ruins at the end of the nineteenth century. Until now, Angkor Wat has not been restored completely, for time destroyer seems faster than human restorer.

According to our tour guide, some two million tourists around the world visit this heritage place yearly. Every segment of the man-made structure dedicated to Hindu god Vishnu amazed me, including its long entrance lined with heroic busts of gods and the two mile water-filled moat around Angkor Wat. I could simply imagine that this ditch was an effective defense from Thai invaders. To climb the 130-feet-high main tower was the obsession of tourists like us, so we waited for our turn under the sun. At the tower, people below looked like ants in size. That was how high the main tower was. There were four other smaller towers on each corner of the ancient structure.

Solid walls displayed carved pictures of Hindu epics. Our tour guide had fluently mastered the scenes, settings, characters and plots of the tale, much, much better than my English major students of Asian Literature. All areas of the huge walls of the temple displayed sculptured scenes to picture Hindu dancing gods in their worship hours.

Visiting even the smaller towers on the four corners of the temple gave me an imaginary experience to live in the past. There was a room, the only room that echoed every word we said and noise we created.

Tourists who did not trust their knees or grip remained on the ground, yet Angkor Wat has never denied them a sensational Cambodian experience of its historical world heritage.

(Cecilia S. Angeles is a college professor in Fine Arts and a regular lecturer in the FPPF Basic Photography Workshop at Fort Santiago, Intramuros, Manila. Email: csa_palay@yahoo.com)

Angkor construction technology used to build Hindu temple in West London

The Shree Sanatan Hindu Mandir temple in Wembley, West London

Shree Sanatan Hindu Mandir
The pride of the Hindus

June 20, 2010
By Mithun Dey
Organiser.org

Most of the Mandir parts have been hand-carved in limestone in a small town called Sola, located in Gujarat. About 41 statues of the deities made-up of marble were made in India especially for the Mandir.

I got surprised after receiving an email from one of my friends living in London stating that a new Sanatan Hindu Mandir has been constructed in London. It’s really a great achievement for the Hindus around the world.

The Shree Sanatan Hindu Mandir was constructed at a cost of £16 million i.e. 113,60,00000 crore in Indian currency. It took 14 years to construct the temple in the locality of Wimbley, situated in West London. The technology used in the construction of this temple is similar to that of the world famous Vishnu Temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. The Vishnu Temple of Angkor Wat was built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple in the capital city of Khmer empire which Cambodia is now part of. The temple is an of epitome of high classical style of Khmer architecture.

No doubt that the Sanatan Hindu Mandir has been built by great people who must have been working very hard and we cannot take their achievement for granted. The Mandir has been built by using ancient technology based on Hindu sculptures and made of shilpa shastras technique. The Mandir covers an area of 2.4 acres and it is 66ft (20m) tall. Its bright sand-coloured walls stand out in stark contrast to the unassuming surroundings. The Mandir is also known as Wembley’s newest looming landmark.

Most of the Mandir parts have been hand carved in limestone in a small town called Sola, located in Gujarat. About 41 statues of deities made-up of marble were made in India especially for the Mandir.

Famous spiritual leaders and forms of Gods from other religions such as Mother Teresa, Gurunanak Devji, Meerabai, Lord Swaminarayan and many more have been featured in the carvings of the temple. Featuring of other Gods have made the Mandir run into controversies and many have questioned the carving of the image of Mother Teresa on one of its columns, but Dr Raj Pandit Sharma of the Hindu Council UK as well as the chief priest of the Mandir said, "It represents the inclusive nature of the Hindu religion."

The opening ceremony known "Pran Prathistha" was celebrated on May 31, 2010 to "infuse the spirit of God into the statues. The opening ceremony was attended by a large number of distinguished devotees. It is our faith that the Mandir will offer a place of worship for all the Hindus, said Dr Raj.

Dr Raj Pandit Sharma said that the new Mandir not only stand out as a structure but it also fits well with the eclectic local community. He also said, "I think it will add to the charm of the area".

He further said that all Hindu festivals will be celebrated in the Mandir. It is expected that around 400-500 devotees will visit the Mandir during the week days and double that on weekends.

Angkor: How can a UNESCO site keep tourist temple raiders in check?

Image credit: Angkor Wat (Workbook Stock/Thomas Kokta/Getty Images)

Fri Mar 5, 2010
By Sarah Dowdey
Discovery News

It only takes a quick Google image search to understand why Angkor, the Khmer empire's ancient seat, makes plenty of "must-see" travel lists. Its ruined temple complexes pop out through the forests, and its sprawling reservoirs offer a testament to the city's impressive engineering.

When I podcasted on Angkor a while back, my co-host and I talked a bit about the possible role of environmental degradation in the city's downfall. Deforestation may have caused silting, something that could damage the complex waterworks that kept the city running so efficiently.

Another hypothesis, this one from National Geographic's Richard Stone, centers more on plain old environmental bad luck: an El Niño cycle beginning exactly when the delicate water management system was showing its age. Deprived of the mechanical wizardry that kept dramatic seasonal changes in check, the city may not have been equipped to face a long dry period.

But since Angkor's fall could have had as much to do with war, religion or rivalry among feuding Khmer royal offspring, I'll focus here on the present-day site's environmental woes. The ruined complex, situated near Siem Reap, has been one of Cambodia's tourist cornerstones since the country opened as a safe destination after years of war and internal strife.

And while Angkor has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992, and spent 12 years on the group's "threatened" list, such a designation requires some trade-offs. With international protection comes international exposure and a flood of new visitors. According to the non-governmental organization Heritage Watch, Angkor saw 7600 visitors in 1993; by 2006, the number was 1.6 million; by the time 2010 is up, the complex will likely draw 3 million. Tourists of course bring in money for the developing country, as well as help assure a certain degree of protection for cultural sites. But they also walk everywhere. They touch things. They require hotels, resorts and transportation. The development of Siem Reap may even be sucking Angkor dry, drawing out its groundwater and weakening the temples' foundations.

Fortunately, groups like Heritage Watch are advocating for a more sustainable type of tourism. Working with the Cambodian government, they've started a "heritage friendly tourism campaign" to save antiquities, discourage looters and encourage visitors to fan out, spread their wealth and take a little heat off of Angkor.

Cambodian kite wins first prize in India

21 Jan 2009
By Ung Chamroeun
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read the article in French

During a competition organized by India’s Gujarat State, a kite bearing the image of Angkor Wat temple won the first prize in its category.

Held between 10-14 January, this competition was participated by 31 countries from all over the world. About 100 Indian competitors from various states were joined by 82 other competitors from other countries.

According to Sim Sirak, the general director of the Administration and Finance Department of the ministry of Culture, five categories of kites were registered in the competition. One of the two Cambodian entries won first prize in the second category, and it bore an image of the Angkor Wat temple. The second kite bearing an image of an Apsara did not win, even though it won third prize in another competition in India also.

Angkor Wat: Mariella Frostrup's heaven on earth

The temples of Angkor are quite simply remarkable

Mariella Frostrup's heaven on earth

15/10/2007
The Telegraph (UK)

The broadcaster doesn't normally advocate spending hours walking around old buildings - but makes an exception for the temples of Angkor in Cambodia.

The most extraordinary place I've visited is the 12th-century temple complex at Angkor Wat, completely inaccessible during Cambodia's troubled past but very easy to get to now - it's just an hour's flight from Bangkok.

I'm no great advocate of wandering around old buildings - I'm fine for about an hour but then I get a bit bored - but for Angkor Wat I make an exception.

The main temple is like a mini-Versailles and there's another one you have to visit very early in the morning because the sun lights up the many Buddhas' faces at dawn - it's one of the most spectacular things you'll ever see.

Then there's a temple where the trees seem to have grown out of the walls, one of many beautifully strange sights here. If you go, be sure to make an early start - it's worth it, just to see the complex in all its glory. It's just the most remarkable place.

Mariella Frostrup presents 'The Book Show' on Sky Arts at 7pm from October 18.