There’s nothing accidental about the way the sculptures are arranged at the National Museum’s new exhibit of 100 post-Angkorian Buddhas.
At the end of the long exhibition hall, rising above the other figures like the pinnacle of a mountain, is a simple head from Angkor Wat, its closed eyes and gently smiling face radiating serenity.
Khun Samen, director of the museum, says the Angkorian icon towers above the rest because it is the wellspring from which subsequent artistic styles flowed.
“I read a lot about the Thai influence in Khmer art, but I want people to see that Thai art is influenced by ancient Khmer art,” he explained.
The new permanent exhibit, assembled from some of the treasures that have been crated for years in the museum’s basement, is a revelation.
For one thing, the sculptures are in comparatively wonderful shape. Temple-goers accustomed to weather-worn and vandalized carvings, from headless apsaras to Buddha statues reduced to a pair of ankles, won’t believe their eyes.
For another, the years following the Angkorian empire saw an explosion in color and ornamentation, as the simplicity and naturalism of the high Khmer style was supplanted by a more ceremonial, ornate aesthetic.
So exuberant do they become, in fact, that it’s hard to believe they were all sculpted in Cambodia in the years since Angkor was abandoned in 1431. Just putting them together in one room is a statement about the breadth and strength of Buddhism in Cambodia.
There are jeweled Buddhas and gold Buddhas, Buddhas lacquered in reds and blacks, Buddhas decorated with beautifully carved flowers and inlaid mother-of-pearl, bronze Buddhas and Buddhas encased in sheets of silver, tiny Buddhas and a fragment of a huge one.
Many show motifs and decorative elements linked to Thailand, Laos, or China. “These show an ancient Khmer artistry that assimilated external influences, which enrich their art, while perpetuating their own tradition,” says a booklet on the exhibit.
Khun Samen said the exhibit has opened just in time for the Water Festival, when museum attendance is expected to skyrocket.
“It’s the opposite of Pchum Benh, when the city empties as people go out to the countryside,” he said. “For the Water Festival, the farmers come in to the city” to watch the races and, increasingly, visit the museum.
That’s welcome news to an institution that, given the quality of its collection, is underappreciated. Khun Samen says he can’t understand why only a fraction of the tourists who visit Angkor Wat come to the museum.
“There are many temples in Siem Reap, but the soul of the temples is in this museum,” he says.
Few tourists, however, make that connection. “I just tripped across [the Buddha exhibit],” said Andrew Haines, a British landscape architect on a three-month visit to the region.
“Was this advertised anywhere? Because I didn’t hear a word about it.” He was one of a handful of tourists who braved knee-deep flooding in front of the museum Tuesday to view the collection.
Advertising is hardly a priority at a museum that essentially has no budget, although donors and international agencies like Unesco often fund projects like the exhibit booklet.
Khun Samen says that while the Ministry of Fine Arts and Culture pays operating expenses and salaries (as director, he earns $20 per month), the museum can’t begin to display all the art it has stored away—let alone explain the finer points of what it does display.
The result is an array of world-class art that is not terribly user-friendly. Curators have identified the works, but rarely include the kind of context and overview Western museum-goers expect.
Things aren’t likely to improve any time soon, given the financial constraints. While the museum has earned as much as $70,000 in a year from ticket receipts, the money goes into the general treasury, says Khun Samen.
He says he could fill another building with art, and that plans have been drawn up. He’s also like a separate prehistoric exhibit, and a video area to produce education films on Khmer culture for Cambodian television.
“All we need is the money,” he said.
