via Khmer Times, 11-12 December 2023: Cambodia’s APSARA National Authority and Germany’s GIZ celebrated 15 years of collaborative efforts in stone conservation at Angkor. The partnership includes a training course for 20 Cambodian trainees at Banteay Samre temple, focusing on various stone conservation skills. This initiative aims to cultivate a new generation of Cambodian experts in temple restoration and conservation, reducing reliance on foreign expertise.
There are 13 stone conservation skills in this training course that focus on repair work, understanding the formation of stones, and understanding the damage of the stone due to what factors? Analyse stone diseases and learn about materials and treatment methods.
German teacher Helen Jacobsen said that over the past 15 years, GIZ has trained about 40 young Cambodians on stone treatment and conservation skills.
Ms. Helen expressed her happiness to participate in training young Cambodians to become experts in the field of conservation and preservation of this World Heritage Site, and she hopes that in the next 10 years, APSARA National Authority will have more experts in stone treatment and conservation, which will make the work of conservation and restoration of ancient temples by themselves and no longer have to rely on foreign experts.
