South Korea supplies equipment for artefact restoration

Wed, 24 February 2016 ppp

Bun Sengkong

Artefacts at the Angkor archaeological park in Siem Reap that are slated for refurbishment. AKP

Cambodia on Monday received $124,000 worth of resources from South Korea to speed up the process of restoring ancient artefacts.

The donation to Cambodia’s department of the protection and preservation of antiquities included technological equipment valued at about $100,000, said Thai Norak Sathya, spokesman of Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.

The money will go to the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh and the Angkor archaeological park in Siem Reap, he said. Each site received about $50,000 worth of devices to help restore artefacts stored at both locations.

The remaining $24,000 was provided to continue renovation of a storage and restoration building at the Angkor complex and equip it with computers and ACs, Sathya said.

Seoul will also provide experts to train staff at both locations on using the new equipment, he added.

Chen Chanratana, a Khmer Heritage Foundation archaeologist, said lack of human resources was a chief obstacle to artefact restoration.

“Another problem is funding and technical support. If there were more money, we could repair more statues and exhibit them.”