Hertiage Watch Awarded AIA Grant | Heritage Watch - Preserving thePast, Enriching the Future

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Ongoing conservation efforts at the dilapidated Banteay Chhmar temple complex in northwestern Banteay Meanchey province have received a substantial boost in the form of a site-preservation grant from the Archeological Institute of America (AIA), the organisation announced in a press release.

Heritage Watch, the grant recipient, is a partner of the Global Heritage Fund, which launched restoration efforts in 2008 in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and several other NGOs.

In a press release, the AIA said: “With new road improvements, the site is expected to become a major tourist attraction for those travelling from Thailand to Cambodia’s major archaeological attraction, Angkor Wat,” making it essential to advance conservation efforts quickly, as well as to establish community-based enterprises that “protect the site, rather than destroy it”.

Conservationists also fear that the road improvements, particularly National Highway 6 linking Siem Reap with Poipet, will accelerate the looting of Banteay Chhmar. The temple’s proximity to Thailand means that antiquities can disappear undetected into the jungles across the border.

The Angkor-period temples have already lost a number of significant features, including six of the eight massive bas-reliefs depicting Buddhist divinity Avalokitesvara.

Ok Sophon, Director General of Heritage at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and head of the ministry’s efforts at Banteay Chhmar, acknowledged that the looting issue was grounded in the relationship of the temple and its surrounding communities.

Despite increased security, Ok Sophon said, his team found 100 holes around the site dug by hopeful antiquities hunters. On one occasion, police tracked down five men seen taking material from the site.

The Heritage Watch project will focus on Guide Training, language training and promotion of Banteay Chmar as a tourist destination and the organization will work closely with the Community Based Tourism Organization in this initiative.

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"Remembering where you have come from is as important as knowing where you are going."

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