26TS.10

 

Bakong, tower number 8 and East entrance:

Ad hoc experts appreciate the achievements attained by the Department of Conservation of the Monuments in Angkor and Preventive Archaeology, hereafter named DCMA, in order to set back the lintel: they have carried out a research about the original structure of the door, finding one of three original wooden beams just behind the lintel.

This technique has been found also in other brick towers like Bakong and Lolei. The lack of two of the three original beams is probably closely connected with the collapse of the structure that occurred six years ago. The main concept of their operation is to revive the original structural logic with the same technique, but nowadays these operations should be guaranteed by accurate structural analysis based on the mathematical model.
Taking these into consideration, Ad hoc experts recommend:

1. To have concrete analytical data regarding the delicate work of the reset of the heavy lintel. We wait detailed feasibility study of the lifting-up/resetting operation with a static and structural calculation regarding the distribution of forces caused by this operation in the whole tower. Cooperation with proper structural engineers is required for this technical operation. This operation and additional intervention for reinforcement must avoid damaging the stucco and brick decoration found on the surface of the tower.

2. To use stainless steel bars as one option to be put in place of missing wooden beam below the lintel, on the condition that wooden beams of similar size, high-quality, termite-resistance as the original one are no longer available. The remaining original wooden beams should preserved in situ. Furthermore, the study of the significance, both historical and structural, of the wooden material in Khmer architecture should be promoted.

3. To install wooden pedestrian facilities which make visitors not approach directly along the axis of the temple from the east but somehow deviate to sidewalks on both sides of the gate of the temple. The purpose of this pedestrian way is to protect moon-stone and base stones from further deterioration and to keep the tourists off the slippery uneven stones. The position and course of the pedestrian way should be appropriately designed, enabling the tourists to understand the axial layout of the complex.

4. To protect properly from vehicles both sides of the entrance located just in front of the bridge to the east.