25TS.4 22PS

 

Risk map: Prasat Ta Kav and Angkor Thom Gate of the Dead:

These two monument gates to the city of Angkor Thom are fraught with very similar conspicuous damage and pathology patterns, with many cracks probably tending to get worse, as confirmed by stones falling off in recent times. The first thing is to analyze both the static and dynamic structural behavior by putting in such things as monitoring gauges and equipment to measure micro-vibrations, especially for the Ta Kav gate which is regularly crossed by vehicles. On the basis of this data analysis, work should be implemented in two steps:

1. Emergency measures and maintenance
2. Restoration
3. The emergency measures are already in the course of implementation based on the risk map. However, in order to ensure the safety of the monument and of visitors, it appears necessary to close off Ta Kav gate to all four-wheel vehicles by putting in a chicane, given the risks induced by vibrations
As for the maintenance work that has been undertaken, the ad hoc expert group is not fully convinced of the relevance of the different materials already being used for propping and closing in cracks on different parts of this monument: concrete pillars, modern bricks, mortar made with sand, clay and hydraulic lime.

So the ad hoc group of experts recommends that the APSARA National Authority abandon this type of stop-gap intervention and instead undertake genuine restoration programs (including such things as partial dismantling and reassembly of unstable parts, as is done by other national and international teams on the Angkor site, on the basis of archaeological research) and that it allocate sufficient financial resources for this so that these restoration programs are really in keeping with the scale of the problems encountered on these significant monuments of the Angkor Thom site.