The breathtaking complex of temples and monuments at Angkor, Cambodia, is the legacy of the once-powerful Khmer empire. But time, as well as war, have taken its toll on the awe-inspiring spiritual heart of the Cambodian people, and teams from all over the world have been drafted in to help with its revitalization.
"My heritage maintenance career started at the Longmen Grottoes (in Henan Province) 40 years ago and will end with the Cambodian temples," said 69-year-old Jiang Huaiying, leader of the Chinese taskforce working in Angkor.
Since 1997, when the team began preparations for the restoration of Chau Say Tevoda temple, Jiang has spent most of his time on site.
"Finally I can have a proper holiday with my family in Beijing," said Jiang at the 15th General Assembly of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) held between October 17 and 21 in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Jiang's team has restored five of the nine individual buildings of Chau Say Tevoda in the ruins of the 400-square-kilometer Angkor complex. The whole project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2006.
Difficult start
Nine years ago when Jiang, a senior architect from the China Research Institute of the Protection of Cultural Relics, first came to Angkor, he was concerned about the last major project of his career ending in failure, as the challenge was so great.
With Angkor as its capital, the Khmer empire encompassed present-day Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Viet Nam from 802 to 1432.
From the 12th century on, the splendid temple complexes of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom were constructed over 300 years.
In the 15th century, the invasion of Siam, the former Thai Kingdom, forced the Cambodian people to move their capital to Phnom Penh.
The splendid architecture of Angkor was neglected and engulfed by vegetation.
In 1992, the monuments and the city of Angkor were proclaimed a World Heritage Site. Teams from more than 10 countries have since been working on the restoration of the Hindu and Buddhist architecture, with guidance from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
In 1993, the Chinese Government decided to help Cambodia by restoring part of the Angkor site, but the project was delayed until 1997 due to social unrest.
Chau Say Tevoda had been devastated after centuries of neglect by wind, plants and water. Its ruins consisted of 4,000 stones of different sizes that had rolled down a slope into a river.
Trees had grown through the collapsed structures, poking out of the destroyed stone walls.
Water is a major threat to the buildings of Angkor. Between the rainy and dry seasons the underground water level varies between three and five meters, causing the ground to rise and sink.
"Most buildings in Angkor have manmade foundations to reduce the impact of fluctuation of the land surface, but with time many stones in the foundations have come away and the ground changes could easily destroy whole buildings," Jiang said.
Chau Say Tevoda was built completely out of stone, which is not the traditional Chinese style the taskforce dispatched by Beijing was used to.
"Many experts in other restoration teams did not believe we had the ability to restore stone," said Jiang.
But the team leader believes Chinese heritage restoration does have advantages.
"Because traditional Chinese architecture is mainly made of wood, restoration is necessary to keep these buildings from collapsing, while in the stone architectural tradition the ancient buildings are much stronger and restoration experience is less important," Jiang said.
"We may not have the same stone building experience, but we have greater patience. Even if we find the dismantled stones one by one, we will still be able to restore them."
Disputes
But the Chinese plans were immediately questioned by experts from other restoration teams.
Due to the involvement of many countries, Angkor heritage conservation is a combination of different maintenance styles. The teams from the United States and Japan only work on what remains, fearing full restoration would not be authentic. French architects, who have worked on Angkor for nearly 100 years, insist the buildings be fully restored to avoid further destruction.
"Their questioning is understandable. After all, there is no blueprint of the ancient buildings and no one knows what the original structure was like," Jiang said.
"Although no one has seen the original ancient architecture of Chau Say Tevoda, there are similar buildings of the same age left for reference. In addition, many building materials have been left, and with careful work it is possible to restore most of them to their original look."
In 1999, after two years of feasibility studies, the Cambodian and Chinese governments approved Jiang's plan and Beijing invested 14.5 million yuan (US$1.79 million) for the restoration of Chau Say Tevoda over six years.
Jiang and his colleagues meticulously took photos of the dismantled stones and fed the images into a computer.
When the restorative construction began, Jiang found the lack of some key architectural elements made it impossible to link disparate parts of the structure.
On other occasions the team tried to sort the unidentified stones in accordance with their age, style and form. They had to design the missing stones by examining the gaps in the materials they had recovered.
"But this does not mean we destroyed the historical truth. Each time, we try different combinations and as many alternatives as possible, until a satisfactory combination is found," Jiang said.
This approach was only used for the structural elements without which the building would not be able to stand. The experts clearly marked which pieces were not original.
"We decided not to restore the roofs of most buildings because these do not influence the whole structure," said Jiang.
The team has developed an indoor drainage system to avoid flooding by heavy rains.
"A highly enjoyable experience is to see the stones, whose original locations we could not at first find. reduced day by day," said Jiang, adding that his younger colleagues had developed number-guessing games based on the gaps that remained, awaiting the discovery of a suitable addition.
Two years ago, the members of the reconstruction team thought they had recovered enough material to restore the temple's east palace. But when they started they found some of the stones could not support the building's gates.
Work was suspended while Chinese experts and their counterparts from other countries discussed how to overcome the problem. Eventually they decided not to restore that side of the wall.
Despite the hold-up, most of the work on Chau Say Tevoda has been finished. The percentage of modern replica stones in each building varies from 2 percent to 9 percent.
"This is allowed under the UNESCO and ICOMOS principles of heritage restoration," said Jiang.
Besides technical hitches, armed relic thieves reportedly appear near their work site, and gunshots are often heard. The Cambodian Government has dispatched police escorts and the team itself has hired bodyguards.
"Sometimes social unrest does help us because it forces us to stay on the site to think more about the restoration work," Jiang joked.
(China Daily November 8, 2005)
