26TS.1
Kapilapura temple site :
The Kapilapura temple site now sits in the condition that it was in when the EFEO left off excavations on it about a century ago.
Given that condition of near abandon, the ad hoc group of experts makes the following recommendations:
a. In terms of maintenance and immediate conservation, conduct a minimally invasive general site clean-up operation, ridding the ground of brush, but taking great care to preserve the temple’s tree cover. Make an inventory of all the significant stone ruins still in place and provide protection for them;
b. In terms of scientific knowledge of the monument, do plan layouts of the different components of the temple, rounded out by a photographic documentation of its conserved elevations. Seek the current location of the various major remains that belong to it but found in storage fields, at one time documented and placed in locations that have yet to be identified (inscriptions, two lintels with carvings, etc.);
c. Finally, in terms of sustainable conservation of the monument, design and carry out in the near term a general site improvement program, including: Disposal of the old excavation rubbles still found around the temple and currently acting as a catch basin that pools the rainwater, thus degrading the architectural ruins earlier discovered. Such a clean-up operation should be rounded out by an archaeological research component which would normally include further investigations in order to better identify the original layout of the monument on its site.
Generally, this example of the Kapilapura temple should be an incentive for the APSARA National Authority to give particular attention to these many minor monuments scattered over the Angkor site, sometimes right in proximity to major monuments, now often overlooked in terms of scientific concerns and conservation. If a modicum of effort was put into their development and they were identified with discreet signage, they could also provide points of interest for specific tours into forested areas, farmland or village locations as a complement and counterpoint to the very popular major locations.