The other temples, of which there is about 200 in immediate surroundings, were very badly damaged by overgrowth. The work that the problem at ancor is actually different from the other temples. Because it's exposed, and because it was never engulfed by the jungle the sandstone has been subject to weathering,. So a lot of the reliefs and carvings in the more exposed areas are damaged by naturaler decay, stone decay. That's a balance which has not yet been reached but i think it's on many, many people's minds when near the end.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the largest and arguably the most astonishing religious structure on Earth, built for Suryavarman II in the 12th Century in modern-day Cambodia. It is said to have more stone in it than the Great Pyramid of Giza, and much of the surface is intricately carved and remarkably well preserved. For the last 900 years Angkor Wat has been a centre of religion, whether Hinduism, Buddhism or Animism or a combination of those, and a source of wonder to Cambodians and visitors from around the world.
With
Piphal Heng
Postdoctoral scholar at the Cotsen Institute and the Programme for Early Modern Southeast Asia at UCLA
Ashley Thompson
Hiram W Woodward Chair of Southeast Asian Art at SOAS University of London
And
Simon Warrack
A stone conservator who has worked extensively at Angkor Wat
Producer: Simon Tillotson