Phase II of My Son restoration completed

The safeguarding of the My Son World Heritage Site took another step forward with the completion this month of the second phase of a preservation project, said Italian ambassador Lorenzo Angeloni.
The tripartite project between UNESCO, and the Italian and Vietnamese Governments focused on the preservation of Group G of monuments, the most important collection of remains at My Son Holy Site located in the central province of Quang Nam's Duy Xuyen District.
The group, consisting of five monuments, was selected for UNESCO preservation and sponsorship from the Italian Fund-In-Trust due to its unique decoration and materials and outstanding example of how a Cham sacred area was organised.
It lies on an elevated area never affected by seasonal flooding, and had never been restored, despite its considerable archae-ological importance.
Five key results of Phase II of the project were presented at a press conference held in Ha Noi yesterday.
Consolidation of the restoration of the G1 monument (the sanctuary), the most important of the Group G monuments was completed; with the lessons learnt from the Group G restoration to form a basis for future restoration of Cham brick monuments; and continued training of Vietnamese archaeologists, architects, conservationists and site managers in safeguarding cultural heritage in accordance with international World Heritage standards of conservation.
Training would include evaluation of the archaeological risk factors and vulnerability index of the monuments, which can be used as effective tools in the decision making for the long-term conservation of the World Heritage Site, according to Katherine Muller-Marin, representative and head of the UNESCO Ha Noi office.
She also highly appraised the catalogue of all Cham monuments in My Son which will provide the necessary database for the long-term protection of the site.
The project also helped develop a comprehensive site interpretation plan and design options of a plan for the entrance to the Group G site.
Besides these key results, the most significant success of phase II, was a project dedicated to replicating ancient Cham brickwork.
The success of this project was attributed to a local brick producer, technical staff and researchers from Institute for the Conservation of Monuments in co-operation with Italian experts from Lerici Foundation and University of Polytechnic of Milano.
"Although this research and experiments will continue, this has definitely contributed to taking the conservation work forward," said the ambassador.
In addition to the success gained in brick experimentation and production, the Guidelines for the restoration of Cham Towers with documented lessons learned from the G1 restoration in My Son would act as an important resource of knowledge and experience for conservators, particularly those working with ancient Cham monuments in central Viet Nam and other Hindu-influenced temples in the region.
The project was the first intervention since My Son was added to the World Heritage list in 1999 and only the second following the initial efforts by Polish and Vietnamese architects led by Kazimierz Kwiatkowski and Professor Hoang Dao Kinh in the early 1980s. A project which lacked the conditions to conduct more research into the materials and techniques used in the construction of the Cham monuments.
Phase I of the project began in 2003 and concluded in 2005 with the breakthrough discovery of an organic resin which was very similar to the ancient Cham material utilised as brick mortar.
The project cost 1.3 million euros (US$1.8million) from 2003-10.
"I'm convinced by the results of the project and I'm happy for the project to continue," said the ambassador.