Restoring Cambodia's Ta Prohm temple challenging: ASI

The overlapping of trees and man-made structures at Cambodia's Ta Prohm temple made the Archeological Survey of India's restoration work difficult, so they had rope in IIT-Chennai to instruct them in structural engineering.

In a video "India-Cambodia Relations - A Labour of Love" highlighting the role Indian has played in restoration of Ta Prohm, the third most visited site after Angkor Wat and the Bayon temple in the Angkor region, posted online by the external affairs ministry on May 5, Indian archaeologists spoke about the challenges they faced in restoration.

"The restoration work at Ta Prohm temple was quite a challenging task as about 150 huge trees are growing in the complex, and some of them are growing over the structures," ASI director general Rakesh Tewari in the video.

When the ASI took over the restoration charge in 2003, Tewari noted the temple was "all crumbled down" and resettling the monument wasn't an easy job.

This is why to understand the complex dynamics the temple threw open, the ASI collaborated with Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai to understand for structural studies and engineering and come up with a calculated move to restore the ruins.

"The restoration work was challenging because the two things are living together - nature and man-made structure... if we remove the structure, the tree will collapse and if we remove the tree, the structure will collapse," said project team leader Devendra Singh Sood, a deputy superintending archeological engineer.

According to ASI's director of conservation Janwij Sharma, in order to sustain trees on the monument, they chose to establish symbiotic relationship between the built and natural heritage.

This Buddhist temple is built by Cambodian king Jayavarman VII around 1181 CE and India has been active in restoring the lost glory of 12th century Angkor Wat.

"There is a debate in the archaeological community how to leave Ta Prohm... whether to leave it in a state of natural abandon or rebuild it," said Indian Ambassador to Cambodia Dinesh K. Patanaik.

"What we have done in some of the structures is rebuild half of the structures so that the tourists can see the abandon in what it was left and what it was when it was done before...we have done in a way so that to satisfy both sides," he added.