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SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA, August 30, 2003: In addition to an appreciation of art, Uong Von’s job as chief conservationist of the Khmer Art Museum requires a familiarity with semiautomatic weapons. “To work at Conservation d’Angkor you must love art and know how to defend it with an AK-47,” said Uong Von. “I am a lover of art, but I am armed.” Less than a mile from the legendary stone temples of Angkor Wat, the repository in Conservation d’Angkor houses more than 6,000 pieces of priceless Hindu Khmer art behind high walls draped with jungle shrubs and protected by gun-toting guards. While thousands will tour Angkor Wat this year, fewer than 200 visitors were permitted past the security guards and behind the heavy steel doors of the conservation repository in the last year. Newly found artifacts come in, but nothing leaves. Loan programs do not exist. Founded by the French colonial authorities in the early 20th century, conservation d’Angkor was originally charged with protecting all of Cambodia’s ancient Khmer artifacts and temples. More than 1,000 stone temples were erected by the Khmer in a swathe across what is now Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. Jungles reclaimed the temples and they were forgotten until French explorers in the 19th century began publishing accounts of the impossibly large stone structures. Fascination with the lost civilization launched a traffic in stolen artifacts. While French archaeologists brought several thousands of the first pieces to the repository for fear they could be stolen or damaged by the jungle, more than 60 items still arrive every year, usually as a result of foiled theft.

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