Keep
your eye out for two new creations, well one of them is old but new in a
sense, the other is bright and shiny and brand new. Firstly, I'm
talking about the recreated Le Monument aux Morts, which was officially
blessed a few days ago, located in the small park next to the French
Embassy in Phnom Penh. The original war memorial was designed by French
sculptor Paul Ducuing and unveiled in 1925 to commemorate the 155
Cambodians and 33 French officials from Cambodia who lost their
lives on the battlefields of WW1. Those pesky Khmer Rouge blew it up in
1975, so to celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations
between the host country and France, the memorial has been replicated
with as many pieces of the original as could be identified and used
again. The two statues at the top are in bronze. The second creation is
brand new, in shiny copper with a height of six meters, and has been
installed at the new Siem Reap international airport, due to open a day
after my birthday, on 16 October. The four faces replicate those you can
see on the Bayon temple at Angkor Thom.
