The restoration project of a central terrace of Angkor Wat’s causeway, under the cooperation between the APSARA National Authority and Japan’s Sofia University, is now about 75 percent complete, said the APSARA National Authority in a news release this morning.
Mr. An Sopheap, an archaeologist in charge of Angkor Wat’s causeway restoration project said that the project, which began more than six months ago, has done a lot of work, such as preparing concrete walls and compacting concrete. The land at the foundation of the central terrace is almost done.
He added that the first stage of the restoration work of the central terrace is to study and assess the damage as well as restoration methods in 2021, while the repair activities began in early 2022 until now.
According to Mr. An Sopheap, the central terrace of Angkor Wat’s causeway was badly damaged, especially the northern structure. As for the foundation of the causeway and the central terrace, the laterite is very fragile from the first to the fourth layers. The wall on the northern side of the causeway, which was very dilapidated, collapsed almost completely into the moat. The west and east walls were also torn apart. In the restoration work of the central terrace of Angkor Wat’s causeway, it is required to remove some of the walls that are very fragile and pour concrete inside to strengthen the quality of the walls. The southern walls are in good condition and preserved following the principles of the International Coordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor.
Mr. Sopheap added that the central terrace of Angkor Wat’s causeway is 12 metres by 12 metres and has the same shape as the one in the south. The restoration team will work hard to complete it by the end of 2022.
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press