SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA, January 1, 2003: Forty years ago, a team of French archaeologists decided the best way to save Baphuon temple, part of the huge Angkor Hindu temple complex, was to destroy it. They began to take apart the fragile temple, block by block, keeping meticulous records of their work, planning to put it back together again as a more stable structure. However when the Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1972 the restorers were forced to flee leaving most of the documents behind, all of which were destroyed in the years that followed. When they returned in 1995, all they found were 300,000 heavy stone blocks strewn over 25 acres among the trees and the biggest jigsaw puzzle in the world. When it was built in the 11th-century, the multi-tiered sandstone pyramid was the most impressive building of its day, “a truly astonishing spectacle,” according to a 13th-century Chinese traveler, Zhou Daguan.
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