Project

In January 2012 the WMF team removed the gantry crane erected in February 2008 for conservation of the roof of the Churning of the Sea of Milk Gallery, marking the completion of the original WMF-APSARA collaborative project. (...)

In January 2012 the WMF team removed the gantry crane erected in February 2008 for conservation of the roof of the Churning of the Sea of Milk Gallery, marking the completion of the original WMF-APSARA collaborative project. This four-year venture has been a remarkable training experience for WMF’s Khmer workers, who have collaborated with stone conservators and engineers to develop a sophisticated system for removing stones, working on them, and returning them to the roof. Work on the roof was closely coordinated with the German conservation team working in the galleries of Angkor Wat to maximum benefit for the site. Prior to commencing the conservation work, the Gallery was carefully surveyed and documented. Previous restorations started in the 1960s by the French Ecole Francaise d’Extreme Orient and completed by the Archaeological Survey of India in 1993 were analyzed using on-site observation and archival research. The results of this campaign are documented in Angkor Wat – Churning of the Sea of Milk Gallery: Fundamental Structural Issues at the CSM Gallery and Adjacent Towers, Vol. I (May 2005.) A stone-by-stone conditions survey was carried out using interactive GIS-based materials and documentation tools. An environmental monitoring system was designed and installed and mineralogy research was conducted, along with a non-destructive examination of both surface and sub-surface characteristics and conditions using ultrasonic pulse and microwave radar testing. This second campaign of work was reported in Angkor Wat – Churning of the Sea of Milk Gallery; Technical Analysis and Conservation Planning, Vol. II. (April 2005.)