PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA, June 5, 2008: The United States will donate nearly US$1 million for conservation of the centuries-old Bakheng temple, a famous cultural icon in Cambodia’s Angkor temple complex, the embassy said in a statement Wednesday. It said the US$978,705 will be given to the nonprofit World Monuments Fund, a New York-based archaeological group that has been doing work at the temple since 2004.
The Angkor temples are Cambodia’s main tourist attraction, earning hundreds of millions of dollars for the cash-strapped Southeast Asian country. About 3,000 tourists climb the hill in the space of just a few hours to see the sunset everyday.