What is the project?

Central Temple at Phnom Bakheng

                Phnom Bakheng  was the first temple built by the Khmers when they settled the area at the site called Angkor in the late 9th to 10th Century.  It is built on the top plateau of a natural stone hill, a “mountain temple,”  a five tiered central temple. The design is a “quincunx,” a cool word, which is a figure of five points, four at each corner of the square and one in the center.  The top tier of the temple is a favorite spot for tourists to take in sunrise and sunset.   Surrounding the temple at the base are 44 brick shrines  In 2008, the WMF embarked on a program of conservation and restoration.  They decided that the group of 44 brick shrines were most at risk and needed immediate attention.

                Now 15 years later they are about to hand over the project of restoration to a local agency, APSARA.  Fifteen years of documentation need to be summarized. I am responsible for reviewing all of the documentation and preparing a summary for the handover.  Very simple statement of work but quite daunting since I am on a steep learning curve, there is nothing from my past training that is applicable to understanding this project, with a tight deadline.

Yesterday I made a trip to the site and will titillate you with a photo. My next post should have many photos.

                The phots is of the Central Temple on the mountain plateau of Phnom Bakheng.  You can see four towers at increasing levels .     Note on the left a tower with wooden shoring needed to prevent structural failure of the tower. Part of necessary structural support while awaiting conservation/remediation.           

                The engineer in charge whose name trying to phonetically spell, “Pe rohm” has been with this project from the beginning when he was working in the field.  His knowledge about the project is encylopedic,  When I am lost in the thicket of documentation he created he is a wonder at guiding out of the confusion.