This month's World Heritage Site

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

When it comes to human affairs, Buddhists are firm believers in the transitory nature of things. A clear illustration of that has been the up-and-down existence of Angkor Wat, the magnificent Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia. It was begun in the 9^th century A.D. and reached its magnificent peak as a worship, urban and administrative complex in the 12^th century A.D. under Suryavaram II, at the height of the Khmer Empire’s power. Yet within a few centuries it was a forgotten monument, unattended and overgrown with plants.

In 1861 it was “discovered” by a Frenchman, Henri Mouhot, and soon became an object of admiration and awe by both the Indochina’s French colonizers and their subjects, the Cambodian people. In the 1970s, the future of Angkor Wat seemed doubtful as the murderous Khmer Rouge seemed intent on destroying all of Cambodia’s past. But mass murder preoccupied the regime, and Angkor Wat had to wait.

Ironically, when the Khmer Rouge was ousted from power in 1979, troops of its army occupied the region around Angkor Wat, using the temple complex as a shield. They knew that international opinion would oppose any attempt to evict them forcibly if doing so physically threatened Angkor Wat. So the might-have-been destroyers became the de facto preservers.

Still, the “protection” offered by remnant Khmer Rouge army units had a down side. There was no regular maintenance or repair on the complex, a dangerous situation in a tropical climate where weathering is accelerated by constant rain and vigorous plant growth.

A final irony involved UNESCO’s World Heritage Site designation. Because of the terrible state of affairs in Cambodia in the 1970s and 1980s, UNESCO shied away from designating Angkor Wat a World Heritage Site despite its great merit. Of all the places on earth that deserved the appellation and protection, Angkor Wat was one.

However, when political matters settled down in Cambodia by the early 1990s, UNESCO was willing to step on its own rules in its haste to declare Angkor Wat a heritage site. Traditionally, sites nominated for the designation must achieve a certain state of repair, as well as provide a guarantee of continuing maintenance, before receiving World Heritage status. But UNESCO, fearful of the consequences of waiting any further, went ahead and inscribed Angkor Wat on the list of World heritage Sites in 1992.

Today, travel to Angkor at is picking up. Cambodia is relatively peaceful, and many of the rangers and guards at Angkor Wat are former Khmer Rouge soldiers. There have been reports of trouble with looters, now that the area is accessible again, but both the Cambodian government and international advisors are slowly winning locals over to the idea of making money through preservation.

(Editor’s Note: You can find a detailed description of a trip to Angkor Wat in the October 2002 issue of this newsletter.)

— Patrick Totty