AVEE
CAMBODIA, April 21, 2004: Swiss architects and students are braving the heat and dust to help restore an ancient Khmer temple in the heart of Cambodia. The aim of the project is to preserve the crumbling Banteay Srei temple, which is part of a Unesco World Heritage site. "It all started by accident when the former cabinet minister, Jean-Pascal Delamuraz, came to Cambodia to inaugurate the [Swiss doctor] Beat Richner's hospital here," said Ueli Salzmann, co-leader of the Swiss team working at the temple. Delamuraz visited Banteay Srei after Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia in 1979. The Swiss delegation was so impressed by the beauty of the site that Delamuraz offered funding to help restore the temple and other monuments.

The red sandstone Banteay Srei temple, which means "Citadel of Women." was built in 967 ce and is decorated with carved statues and sculptures depicting Buddhist and Hindu influences of the time. Salzmann says it is one of the most ornate temples at the Angkor site, which is home to over 100 Khmer temples dating from the ninth to thirteenth centuries. It is also one of the most popular with visitors. But until a few years ago it was almost impossible to reach the temple due to the presence of anti-personnel mines and Khmer Rouge fighters.

The restoration project, which is jointly financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Cambodian government, involves experts from both countries. Swiss architects, engineers and archaeologists bring with them expertise in restoration which they pass on to a team of local workers. Once trained, the Cambodians will continue the work on their own. Students from the University of Geneva and the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne have also been involved in the work at the temple. The project is expected to take four years at a cost of US$660,000.