The Ta Prohm Kel Restoration Team Celebrates Mission Accomplished
- By Isa Rohany
- February 18, 2024 6:10 PM
PHNOM PENH — For restoration worker Seng Sun, seeing the work done and Ta Prohm Kel now secured is something to celebrate.
Ta Prohm Kel or Prohm Kel was one of the 102 hospital chapels built during the reign of King Jayavarman VII who ruled the Khmer Empire in the late 12th century and early 13th century.
The restoration work on the temple located in the Angkor Archeological Park—a UNESCO World Heritage site—was done in 2023. It was based on studies conducted in 2022 that had led to restoration plans being prepared and authorized by the APSARA National Authority—the government body overseeing the site—and by the International Coordinating Committee of Angkor (ICC-Angkor) and its team of experts.
Seng Sun, who is now 69 years old, was part of the team assigned to work on the temple.
“When I first arrived here, the temple was in poor condition and many of the stones had fallen down,” he said.
Sun lives in Ta Trai village, which is located in Banteay Srei district’s Preah Dak commune in Siem Reap province. On the restoration site, he worked at shaping stones to be placed on the monument. As he said, he really loves his job, which is why on this project, he put all his efforts into doing the work even though he would get tired at times.
Being able to see the temple every day made Sun want to get to work, he said. He may now be older, but he is eager to keep on taking part in temple restoration, he said. As he explained, he is eager to have these monuments at Angkor be restored so that they can be passed on to the next generations of Cambodians as part of their legacy.
Lay Lon, who also worked on the restoration of Ta Prohm Kel, is as proud as his colleague to have been part of this project. The 60-year-old man from Veal village, in Siem Reap city’s Kork Chak sangkat, works at sculpting, which is a task that few workers can do, he said.
Both Seng Sonn and Lay Lon hope that many visitors will come to this temple that they have come to love. They both added that they would like to see more Cambodians involved in the preservation and restoration of pre-Angkorian and Angkorian temples in the country.
Ta Prohm Kel is located near the main gate of Angkor Wat in the Angkor Archeological Park.
Originally written in Khmer for ThmeyThmey, this story was translated by Rin Ousa for Cambodianess.
