SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA, December 9, 2004: It has been a case of once bitten twice shy for the archaeologists working on the restoration projects at the historic Angkor Wat temple complex here after the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was criticized for its work a decade ago. Aware of the flak the ASI received for making the Angkor Wat look like a “new temple” after the renovation work, experts do not want to leave any stone unturned in ensuring that the same does not happen now. “We are very very alert this time,” says A. C. Roy, Team Member for restoration of Ta Prohm temple in the Angkor complex. Though he did not elaborate on the precautions they would be taking to ensure that the heritage look of the stones did not go away, Roy said that everything would be done so that what happened last time is not repeated.
Spread over a area of some 40 miles, the city of Angkor hosts a number of temples dedicated to Lord Vishnu and Siva built between the 9th and 13th century. The most famous temple here is the Angkor Wat, regarded as the supreme masterpiece of Khmer architecture built by Suryavarman II between 1113 and 1150. The mass of bas-relief carving is of the highest quality and the most beautifully executed in Angkor and find a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. The Cambodian government had given the restoration work of this famous monument to ASI, which completed the work between 1986 and 1993.
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