Editing Angkor (section)

=== Restoration, preservation, and threats ===
[[File:Banteay Srei 33.jpg|thumb|right|[[Banteay Srei]]]]
A 16th century [[Portugal|Portuguese]] [[Capuchin friar|friar]], [[António da Madalena]], was the first recorded European visitor to visit Angkor Wat in 1586. By the 17th century, Angkor Wat was not completely abandoned. Fourteen inscriptions from the 17th century testify to [[Japanese people|Japanese]] settlements alongside those of the remaining Khmer.<ref name="Nikkei">{{cite web |title=Japanese Diaspora – Cambodia |author=Masako Fukawa, Stan Fukawa |date=6 Nov 2014 |website=Discover Nikkei |url=http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2014/11/6/japanese-diaspora-cambodia/ |access-date=18 October 2015 |archive-date=15 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200515040929/http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2014/11/6/japanese-diaspora-cambodia/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The best-known inscription tells of [[Ukondafu Kazufusa]], who celebrated the [[Khmer New Year]] there in 1632.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Cambodia, Post-Angkor Era (1431 – present day) |work=Cambodia Travel |url=http://www.cambodia-travel.com/khmer/post-angkor.htm |access-date=18 October 2015 |archive-date=11 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911082903/http://www.cambodia-travel.com/khmer/post-angkor.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
[[File:Cambodia Classical Dance 1918-1921.jpg|thumb|[[Apsara Dance|Apsara dancers]] by Angkor Wat in the early 20th century.]]
While Angkor was known to the local Khmer and was shown to European visitors; [[Henri Mouhot]] in 1860 and [[Anna Leonowens]] in 1865,<ref>Leonowens, Anna, An Englishwoman in the Siamese Court, 1870.</ref> it remained cloaked by the forest until the end of the 19th century. European archeologists such as [[Louis Delaporte]] and ethnologists such as [[Adolf Bastian]] visited the site and popularized the site in Europe. This eventually led to a long restoration process by French archaeologists.

From 1907 to 1970, work was under the direction of the [[École française d'Extrême-Orient]], which cleared away the forest, repaired foundations, and installed drains to protect the buildings from water damage. In addition, scholars associated with the school including [[George Coedès]], [[Maurice Glaize]], [[Paul Mus]], [[Philippe Stern]] and others initiated a program of historical scholarship and interpretation that is fundamental to the current understanding of Angkor.

[[File:Preah Khan temple ruins (2009).jpg|thumb|right|[[Preah Khan]]]]
[[File:Ta Keo (6201959611).jpg|thumb|right|[[Ta Keo]]]]
[[File:Ta Phrom, Angkor, Camboya, 2013-08-16, DD 01.JPG|thumb|right|[[Ta Phrom]]]]
Work resumed after the end of the [[Cambodian Civil War]] and, since 1993, has been jointly co-ordinated by India, Germany, Japan and UNESCO through the International Co-ordinating Committee on the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC), while Cambodian work is carried out by the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap ([[APSARA]]), created in 1995. Some temples have been carefully taken apart stone by stone and reassembled on concrete foundations, in accordance with the method of [[anastylosis]].<ref name="BBC Ref" />

The [[World Monuments Fund]] has aided [[Preah Khan]], the Churning of the Sea of Milk (a 49-meter-long bas-relief frieze in Angkor Wat), [[Ta Som]], and [[Phnom Bakheng]]. International tourism to Angkor has increased significantly in recent years, with visitor numbers reaching around 2 million a year by 2014.<ref name="BBC Ref">{{cite web |last=Lawrie |first=Ben |title=Beyond Angkor: How lasers revealed a lost city |publisher=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29245289 |access-date=2014-09-23 |work=BBC News |date=2014-09-23 |archive-date=12 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412193452/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29245289 |url-status=live }}</ref> This poses additional conservation problems but has also provided financial assistance to the restoration effort.<ref>"Tourist invasion threatens to ruin glories of Angkor," ''The Observer.''</ref>

==== Water-table dropping ====
With the increased growth in tourism at Angkor, new hotels and restaurants are being built to accommodate such growth. Each new construction project drills underground to reach the [[water table]], which has a limited storage capacity. This demand on the water table could undermine the stability of the sandy soils under the monuments at Angkor, leading to cracks, fissures and collapses.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sharp |first=Rob |date=14 March 2008 |title=Heritage Site in Peril: Angkor Wat is Falling Down |work=[[The Independent]] |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/heritage-site-in-peril-angkor-wat-is-falling-down-795747.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/heritage-site-in-peril-angkor-wat-is-falling-down-795747.html |archive-date=2022-05-07 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Making matters worse, the peak tourist season corresponds with Cambodia's dry season, which leads to excessive pumping of ground water when it is least replenished naturally.<ref name="Doherty" />

==== Looting ====
[[Looting]] was once a threat to the Angkor archaeological landscape. According to APSARA, the official [[Cambodia]]n agency charged with overseeing the management of Angkor, commenting in 2005, "vandalism has multiplied at a phenomenal rate, employing local populations to carry out the actual thefts, heavily armed intermediaries transport objects, often in tanks or armored personnel carriers, often for sale across the Cambodian border.".<ref>{{cite news |last=Perlez |first=Jane |date=March 21, 2005 |title=Siem Reap Journal; A Cruel Race to Loot the Splendor That Was Angkor |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3DA1E3CF932A15750C0A9639C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 |access-date=14 February 2017 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304114648/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3DA1E3CF932A15750C0A9639C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> Theft of archaeological objects has been greatly reduced in Cambodia since those comments were made.<ref>{{cite news |date=2 February 2024 |title=Cambodian government takes over management of three Angkor archaeological sites from World Monuments Fund |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/02/01/cambodian-government-angkor-sites-world-monuments-fund}}</ref>

==== Unsustainable tourism ====
{{Original research section|date=January 2013}}
The increasing number of tourists, around two million per year,<ref name="Doherty">{{cite news |first=Ben |last=Doherty |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/27/water-raiding-threatens-angkor-wat |title=Private water raiding threatens Angkor's temples built on sand |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2010-09-27 |access-date=17 December 2016 |archive-date=28 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160928010842/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/27/water-raiding-threatens-angkor-wat |url-status=live }}</ref> exerts pressure on the archaeological sites at Angkor by walking and climbing on the (mostly) sandstone monuments at Angkor. This direct pressure created by unchecked tourism is expected to cause significant damage to the monuments in the future.<ref>{{cite news |last=Watson |first=Paul |date=2008-07-19 |title=Too Much Adoration at Cambodia's Angkor Temples |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-angkor20-2008jul20?page=1 |access-date=23 September 2009 |archive-date=31 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031083146/https://www.latimes.com/travel |url-status=live }}</ref>

In sites such as Angkor, tourism is inevitable. Therefore, the site management team cannot exclusively manage the site. The team has to manage the flow of people. Millions of people visit Angkor each year, making the management of this flow vital to the quickly decaying structures. Western tourism to Angkor began in the 1970s.{{sfn|Wager|1995}} The sandstone monuments and Angkor are not made for this type of heightened tourism.

Moving forward, UNESCO and local authorities at the site are in the process of creating a sustainable plan for the future of the site. Since 1992, UNESCO has moved towards conserving Angkor. Thousands of new archaeological sites have been discovered by UNESCO, and the organization has moved towards protected cultural zones. Two decades later, over 1000 people are employed full-time at the site for cultural sensitivity reasons. Part of this movement to limit the impacts of tourism has been to only open certain areas of the site.

However, much of the 1992 precautionary measures and calls for future enforcement have fallen through. Both globally and locally the policy-making has been successful, but the implementation has failed for several reasons. First, there are conflicts of interest in Cambodia. While the site is culturally important to them, Cambodia is a poor country.

Tourism is a vital part to the Cambodian economy, and shutting down parts of Angkor, the largest tourist destination in the country, is not an option. A second reason stems from the government's inability to organize around the site. The Cambodian government has failed in organizing a robust team of cultural specialists and archaeologists to service the site.

==== COVID-19 ====
During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], the lack of visitors resulted in 10,000 people working in the Cambodian tourist trade being out of work.<ref>{{Citation |publisher=VoA |title=Cambodians revel now tourist free Angkor wat |date=14 June 2020 |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/south-central-asia_cambodians-revel-now-tourist-free-angkor-wat/6191082.html |access-date=30 September 2020 |archive-date=3 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903120608/https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/cambodians-revel-now-tourist-free-angkor-wat |url-status=live }}.</ref>