This photo provided by the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation shows Preah Pithu monument group site in Angkor, Cambodia.
SEOUL, June 14 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean maintenance technology, utilized to restore the country’s national treasures, will support the preservation of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, one of the world’s oldest religious monuments.
The Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation recently revealed plans to maintain the Preah Pithu monument group site and the Terrace of the Elephants at Angkor Wat.
Since 2019, the foundation has collaborated with the Korea International Cooperation Agency as part of official development assistance (ODA) projects for cultural heritage, specifically to aid the recovery of Preah Pithu and the Terrace of the Elephants.
These agencies have conducted comprehensive research and scientific analysis since 2019, and they will commence the actual recovery process in July.
The restoration of the Terrace of the Elephants will incorporate the same technology used to maintain the Mireuksaji Stone Pagoda, South Korea’s oldest and biggest stone pagoda and the 11th national treasure.
After 20 years of work, the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage completed the maintenance of the pagoda in 2019.
Angkor Wat will benefit from precision digital archiving, conservation processing for stone materials, groundwater studies, and bearing capacity tests — methods employed during the preservation of the Mireuksaji Stone Pagoda.
Several researchers who participated in the Korean pagoda’s restoration have been dispatched to the recovery site in Cambodia.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
