Delight

Architectural Review, The, May, 2005

ONE OF THE JEWELS' OF KHMER CULTURE, THE PHNOM BAKHENG TEMPLE COMPLEX AT ANGKOR WAT IS TO BE THE SUBJECT OF A MAJOR CONSERVATION PROGRAMME THAT WILL ENSURE THE MONUMENT'S FUTURE.

Seat of the mighty Khmer Empire for over six centuries from AD 800, the city of Angkor is one of the world's cultural and architectural wonders. Among its historic buildings and structures is the temple complex of Phnom Bakheng, perhaps the least understood and explored of all Angkor's monuments. Built in the late ninth century by the Khmer king Yasovarman I, who moved his capital from Roluos to Angkor, Phnom Bakheng is one of the foremost examples of the 'temple mountain' style, in which the composition is intended to represent Mount Mehru, the sacred dwelling place of the Hindu gods. The complex occupies a hill (phnom) with stepped terraces hewn into its side to create a pyramidal incline leading up to the temple at the summit. Here, a quintet of towers, representing the five peaks of Mount Mehru, once stood. Below, on the terraces and around the base of the temple, were over 100 tower shrines. While little remains of Phnom Bakheng's central shrine and principal towers (the sandstone was looted during the sixteenth century to build a large seated Buddha), there are still some very fine existing sculptures, important examples of the deeply carved figures that became known as the Bakheng Style. The hilltop setting also offers panoramic views over the plain to Angkor Wat.

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Modern times have brought different kinds of threats--the site was used as gun emplacement during Cambodia's prolonged civil war and the surrounding area extensively landmined. More recently, poorly managed tourism and monsoon rains, exacerbated by deforestation, have also taken their toll. But there is some hope. The World Monuments Fund (WMF) recently secured a substantial $550 000 grant from the US State Department to finance valuable conservation work at Phnom Bakheng. Though the WMF has been working at Angkor for over 15 years, this is the first time that the US has given federal resources to a Cambodian site. It will be used to fund a three to five year programme of environmental and architectural conservation, archaeological research and tourist management, so that what remains of an astonishingly rich cultural heritage can be properly and fittingly preserved. C.S.

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