Thai museum at Angkor raises ire in Cambodia
There is no question that Angkor and its famed temples are among the world's archaeological treasures, providing a window into the Cambodian dynasty that flourished there from the ninth century to the 15th century. But tourists who flock to the site in northwestern Cambodia say something is missing; few artifacts remain to help them imagine the customs and rituals of the ancient empire.
Numerous antiquities were looted over the centuries or appropriated by museums in France, the country's former colonial ruler. Of those that remained, many were relocated to Cambodia's National Museum, more than 185 miles from Angkor.
Now, a Thai company says it is trying to address the problem, opening a museum that borrows artifacts, including nearly 1,000 Buddhas, from the National Museum and elsewhere. It is just a few miles from Angkor Park, the sprawling area near here that is considered one of Southeast Asia's most important archaeological sites and includes the celebrated temple known as Angkor Wat.
But the new museum, Angkor National Museum, which opened in October, has already drawn criticism from powerful detractors. The critics include international restoration specialists who are fiercely concerned about anything that affects Angkor, which was restored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or Unesco, and others after the wars of the 1970s.
Some quibble with the museum's aesthetics — the complex includes a sprawling retail area — and with its sense of history. There are hundreds of Buddhas, for instance, that date back no further than the 20th century.
Other critics object to the Thai involvement; Angkor was once under Thai control, and some Cambodians remain suspicious that Thailand retains designs on their patrimony.
Those suspicions were stoked in 1999 when large sections of walls with bas-relief images of the revered multiarmed figure, Lokeshvara, were looted from the 12th-century Banteay Chhmar temple near the Thai border. The stolen art was intercepted by the Thai police and returned to Cambodia.
Then in 2003, anti-Thai riots broke out in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, after a Thai actress was reported to have said that Angkor Wat still belonged to her country.
One of the critics, Darryl Collins, a historian based in Siem Reap, said the displeasure of some Cambodians was understandable. An enterprise that is foreign led and "primarily interested in turning a profit," he said, can hardly be called national, especially when Cambodia already has a National Museum...
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Numerous antiquities were looted over the centuries or appropriated by museums in France, the country's former colonial ruler. Of those that remained, many were relocated to Cambodia's National Museum, more than 185 miles from Angkor.
Now, a Thai company says it is trying to address the problem, opening a museum that borrows artifacts, including nearly 1,000 Buddhas, from the National Museum and elsewhere. It is just a few miles from Angkor Park, the sprawling area near here that is considered one of Southeast Asia's most important archaeological sites and includes the celebrated temple known as Angkor Wat.
But the new museum, Angkor National Museum, which opened in October, has already drawn criticism from powerful detractors. The critics include international restoration specialists who are fiercely concerned about anything that affects Angkor, which was restored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or Unesco, and others after the wars of the 1970s.
Some quibble with the museum's aesthetics — the complex includes a sprawling retail area — and with its sense of history. There are hundreds of Buddhas, for instance, that date back no further than the 20th century.
Other critics object to the Thai involvement; Angkor was once under Thai control, and some Cambodians remain suspicious that Thailand retains designs on their patrimony.
Those suspicions were stoked in 1999 when large sections of walls with bas-relief images of the revered multiarmed figure, Lokeshvara, were looted from the 12th-century Banteay Chhmar temple near the Thai border. The stolen art was intercepted by the Thai police and returned to Cambodia.
Then in 2003, anti-Thai riots broke out in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, after a Thai actress was reported to have said that Angkor Wat still belonged to her country.
One of the critics, Darryl Collins, a historian based in Siem Reap, said the displeasure of some Cambodians was understandable. An enterprise that is foreign led and "primarily interested in turning a profit," he said, can hardly be called national, especially when Cambodia already has a National Museum...