35ST.7 28SP
7 Western Causeway Dike:
The ad hoc experts group recommends:
a) for the central platform: after completion of the work on the walls, there is no need to keep the cofferdam that was put in to facilitate the work, even at a reduced height, so as not to create at the foot of the wall a pool of stagnant water that would promote vegetation growth and risk undermining the wall;
b) in addition, agreement is given to put back up the two lion statues that bedecked the front of this platform on the south, with their broken feet replaced with carved, patinated stone but treated to yield a different appearance from the original. The remaining sculptures will be kept as they are with a consolidation treatment as necessary. As for the two lion statues on the northern side of platform currently in storage at the Angkor Conservation Office, it is recommended to put them back up on the site to finish the monument;
c) for the causeway: to facilitate the movement of visitors over the entire causeway, it is requested that the holes in the old pavement be filled in using a leveling mortar of the same shade of color. It is also requested that this technically justified archaeological restoration also be esthetic, which will require using new paving stones and patinating them so that they blend into the mass of the old paving stones;
d) it is recommended that the causeway be put back into public use as soon as possible.