World Monuments Fund in Cambodia

The Angkor Archaeological Park, an immense Hindu-Buddhist temple complex, lies in the jungles of northwest Cambodia. The temples at Angkor represent the pinnacle of the Khmer civilization, which ruled most of the region between the ninth and 15th centuries a.d.

They are considered to be among the great architectural wonders of the world. The temples at Angkor were relatively unknown to the western world until French archaeologists discovered the complex in the late 1850s. They made an effort throughout the next century to document and conserve portions of the temple complex. In the 1970s, conservators had to leave the site due to the outbreak of civil war.

As a result, Angkor went completely without maintenance for nearly 20 years. Since 1991, the World Monuments Fund’s mission in Angkor has been to deploy its expertise to research and document the country’s architectural heritage, stabilize and conserve important monuments, and raise awareness of the many contributions Cambodia’s culture has made to the world. WMF’s conservation projects have also included educational components, designed to train a new generation of Cambodian conservators to care for the country’s remarkable treasures.

However, there is still much more to be done, and in order to complete the current phase of our work, WMF must raise $3 million.