PHNOM
PENH, Oct. 21, 2011 (PRU) – Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Sok An
said on Friday that the country needs more technical and financial
assistance for the government’s effort to preserve the country’s
cultural heritage, by repairing paintings of Buddhist pagodas along the
river in Siemreap to attract more tourists.
Dr.
Sok An thanked the Holcim company, which is funding the restoration of
paintings on the inner and outer walls of Bakong pagoda in Siemreap
province, the home of Angkor.
The
series of paintings on the wall of the pagoda, many of which dated back
to the 1930s and ’40s, recount the Buddha’s life, as is customary in
Cambodian pagodas.
The Bakong pagoda is located about 17 km south of Siemreap town.
Dr.
Sok An also asked Holcim possibly to restore other paintings at
Buddhist pagodas along the river in Siemreap as well as to repair
statues at Angkor.
“We have to master those arts and how to make them look as fresh as before,” he said.
Dr.
Sok An said that companies, including Holcim, that help to repair and
restore paintings at Buddhist pagodas and statues in the Angkor complex
will be acknowledged in writing.
H.E.
Kuch Sinith, country representative of Holcim (Cambodia), told Dr. Sok
An in the meeting that his company is willing to provide $15,000 in
assistance for further work at Bakong pagoda, aiming to engage the local
community to preserve the paintings and collect fees from tourists who
visit the pagoda. The fee will also go to support conservation of the
pagoda.
Dr.
Vittorio Roveda, a research associate in restoring the paintings at
Bakong pagoda, said in the meeting, “There are many pagodas that need to
be restored,” given some tourists described Cambodia’s Buddhist pagoda
paintings as in a terrible state—dank, dark, dusty, and it was almost
impossible to decipher—that needs to be improved.