The Preah Ko Temple 2.

Fülszöveg

I. PROPOSAL FOR FORMULATION OF THE PREAH KO
HISTORIC BUILDING CONSERVATION CONCEPT
By László Nagy
Preah Ko is one of the most valuable, early examples of the cre-
ativity of the emerging Khmer Empire. It is not self-evident how
this remain can be presented in Cambodia in the 1990s.
Consideration must be given the condition of the Khmer Kingdom,
now becoming spiritually independent, and also to the difficult
conditions in which its much-suffering people lives.
Since for many decades no conservation work was carried out
on the Angkor world heritage, Cambodia has to rely on outside
help in the field of historic building conservation. The amount of
work that can be devoted to Preah Ko can be considered only in
the context of the total work that can devoted to Angkor. Although
its importance have been realized, the extent of work should be
related to the general living conditions. This project has to be
implemented in co-operation with the Khmer people and help
from... Tovább

Fülszöveg

I. PROPOSAL FOR FORMULATION OF THE PREAH KO
HISTORIC BUILDING CONSERVATION CONCEPT
By László Nagy
Preah Ko is one of the most valuable, early examples of the cre-
ativity of the emerging Khmer Empire. It is not self-evident how
this remain can be presented in Cambodia in the 1990s.
Consideration must be given the condition of the Khmer Kingdom,
now becoming spiritually independent, and also to the difficult
conditions in which its much-suffering people lives.
Since for many decades no conservation work was carried out
on the Angkor world heritage, Cambodia has to rely on outside
help in the field of historic building conservation. The amount of
work that can be devoted to Preah Ko can be considered only in
the context of the total work that can devoted to Angkor. Although
its importance have been realized, the extent of work should be
related to the general living conditions. This project has to be
implemented in co-operation with the Khmer people and help
from the West cannot create something of lasting value without the
complete positive integration of the site. This includes keeping
track of the current cultural and spiritual values as well as
increasing the share of local work and material use, the applica-
tion of traditional procedures and even the retraining component.
As regards production conditions and handicraft traditions, there
is not such a wide gap between past and current times as, for
example, in Hungary. Workers naturally use methods and skills
which may well be the same as the ancient methods and skills. I
personally would like to use the spirit of the particular site as the
starting point rather than making a contrast between the 'western
approach to conservation of historic buildings' and the interpreta-
tion of the 'eastern sanctuary' and to focus as much as possible
on conservation and preservation rather than the consequences of
a single-approach presentation.
The main objective of the ongoing emergency intervention is to
preserve the decorative stucco and sandstone remains which are
invaluable because of their beauty and rarity. This principle can
in no event be applied in a manner analogous to the building
materials. The Khmer master-builders seem to regard brick as a
monolithic building material, in contrast to the modularity of our
times. This non-discriminating approach may not result in full
scope being given to supplementing or replacing the structure and
surface using available bricks and bricklaying procedures which
are very similar to the original ones.
I believe we have to preserve the charm of this site, too, which
results from the particularly high level of harmony, intimacy and
the integrity of the sanctuaries with Nature. Also for this reason,
the level of interventions has to be limited to a minimum, keeping
fully in mind the principle of reversibility. In this way, it will be
possible to provide compatibility between the emergency interven- Vissza