Two pagodas of Wat Ratchaburana in central Ayutthaya are almost 600 years old, but their beauty is still visible due to conservation efforts. The remaining stucco and plaster at both stupas (prang and mondop), the Buddha statues at the Prang, the floral decoration at the east face of the prayer hall and the stucco at a small pagoda -- they have been preserved partly as a result of a German conservation project in close co-operation with the Ayutthaya Historical Park and Unesco Bangkok.
The German Wat Ratchaburana Safeguarding Project (Grasp), in co-operation with the Fine Arts Department during 2012-2017, was established to conserve the unique stucco and plaster at Wat Ratchaburana in 2012 after the big flood in 2011. The flooding damaged many areas of Thailand and inundated the Unesco cultural world heritage site in Ayutthaya and caused severe damage to Wat Ratchaburana.
A Thai conservation trainee.
Grasp is under the leadership of "stone doctor" Prof Hans Leisen of Cologne University of Applied Sciences and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. It was successfully concluded on March 28 of this year in the presence of German Ambassador Peter Prügel, Thailand's Fine Arts Department director-general Anandha Chuchoti, and a number of Thai and German officials.
"The project started in 2012, after the big flooding. After five years of work and 20 million baht spent, this programme in archaeology and preservation work was completed," Ambassador Prügel remarked.
According to him, the key is sustainability of the project. A lot of young German conservation experts had opportunities to work at the temple while Thai teams were trained and qualified and given certificates.
Ultrasound investigations at the guardian angel reliefs by Esther von Plehwe-Leisen and Hans Leisen. Photos courtesy of Hans Leisen
"We have two working campaigns per year," noted Prof Leisen, who is a stone, brick and concrete expert. "The Fine Arts Department presented a list of five Thai temples at high risk. We decided to choose Wat Ratchaburana because it has beautiful thepchumnum [gathering of guardian angels] stucco which had been under water for a week. High priority was the stucco of flowers, which detached from the walls. Step by step, pieces came off and fell down."
In 2011, a joint delegation by the Fine Arts Department, the 3rd Regional Office of Fine Arts, Ayutthaya, the German embassy in Bangkok and German experts visited several temples in the Ayutthaya Historical Park to find out which of the structures were the most affected and required emergency intervention.
The Grasp German-Thai conservation team. Photos courtesy of Hans Leisen
Wat Ratchaburana was identified as very vulnerable for housing a unique stucco relief at the southern foot of the mondop, which had been under floodwater for sometime. In addition, the temple's large areas of remaining stucco and plaster -- and those on different supports, such as brick or laterite -- were highly endangered.
The temple is a major historical site because it was constructed in 1424 by King Boromrachathirat II (King Sam Phraya), where the bodies of his brothers Chao Ai Phraya and Chao Yi Phraya were cremated after the elephant-back battle in which both were killed. Two pagodas were built in memory of the princes.
Wat Ratchaburana in 2015, and below, in 2017 after conservation.
Based on these findings, the temple was chosen as an exemplary conservation intervention by the German team of experts.
"I'm a stone doctor, my wife [project co-director Prof Esther von Plehwe-Leisen from the same university] is a stucco doctor while my teams are nurses who injected things to fix lime and mortar inside. I hope this can be applied to other places. We are very proud of the Thai team that worked with me, my wife and our 25 students," the professor said.
Grasp is aimed at implementing scientifically based conservation for stucco and plaster remains damaged by weathering. To ensure sustainability, this concept was designed to be transferable to other temples, and to include training for Ayutthaya Historical Park staff. Training and manuals developed under the project were provided to participating staff.
Anandha Chuchoti, director-general of the Fine Arts Department, on behalf of the Fine Arts Department and the Culture Ministry, expressed appreciation for what the German government, the German ambassador and the expert team from Cologne did. "The Fine Arts Department has already applied conservation science and been successful at conserving stucco art. This project is the exchange of experience [between the Thai and German sides]," he remarked.
According to Anandha, he regularly observed the conservation work, which was carried out excellently. The stucco is now strong and its original beauty is clearly visible. Under this project, the Fine Arts Department did conservation work, co-ordinated tasks and closely monitored the process in order to ensure the authenticity of old Ayutthaya.
"It is mutual learning and sharing of experience. One major thing we have learned from them is to conduct studies, research and evaluations before conservation. They have equipment and tools for analysing stone and brick and doing comparisons," Sukanya Baonoed, director of Ayutthaya Historical Park, said.
According to her, the Thai and German sides' approaches are similar. The difference is that the German approaches are more detailed and academic, while the Thai ones are based on expertise, experience and local intellect. Thai conservationists and workers restore stucco the same way German experts do, but both use slightly different formulae of lime and mortar. The formulae vary according to local materials.
"They brought a number of their students to learn and work. They came to study at site while we had the opportunity to learn new technology, approaches and perspectives," the director said.
"They tried to find and use local materials, such as lime from Lop Buri. They will also distribute handbooks to Thai staff. This method is applicable to elsewhere."
Choi Prempree, a restoration worker hired by the 3rd Region Office of Fine Arts, Ayutthaya, on a per diem basis since the 1980s and who has worked for Grasp for five years (four months per year), agreed with the director.
He recalled: "There have been a lot of changes and improvements. The Prang is now better than it was. It was full of lichen. We washed and cleaned the surfaces and waited for the cleaned surfaces to dry. The German experts taught techniques to touch and inject lime and clean objects. Our team of 10 members is now capable of doing it ourselves."
To fix detached stucco art, the team must inject mortar into holes. They strictly follow instructions.
According to Prof Leisen, the stucco and plaster at this temple used to be white, but the colour gradually darkened due to pollution, water, trees, germs and other factors.
"This is a very sophisticated and challenging work. This is something you should conserve and something that is the pride of restorers. Our work is hidden within, with no traces of fixing," he noted.
The German side will soon distribute copies of the 96-page Field Handbook For Stucco Conservation to the Fine Arts Department's restorers, concerned officials, workers and other interested agencies.
The conservation process starts from hand-mapping and ends with documentation. Major procedures include mixing fillers for injection mortar, treatments (cleaning of the plaster and ornament surface) and mortar preparation. The only material that cannot be found in Thailand yet and must be imported from Germany is Ledan TA 1 powder. Both German professors tried to find a local substitute, but could not find anything that can replace Ledan TA 1. However, the Thai side hopes to study more to find a good substitute in the future.
"We have exchanged, co-operated and learned lot of things from Ayutthaya," Prof Leisen remarked while his wife added: "Co-operation, teamwork, friendship and team spirit moved the project forward to the future. This is a successful project and you can see the results."
To conclude the project, the German team conducted a final workshop for both Thai and German conservation experts and staff on March 28 and 29 at the Ayutthaya Historical Park Office.
According to Prof Leisen, his team can provide further assistance and training if endorsed by the German government.
Anandha, chief of the Fine Arts Department, concluded: "I hope co-operation between Germany and Thailand strengthens the relationship and leads to good collaboration in the future."
