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Tuesday, 27 August, 2002, 21:35 GMT 22:35 UK
Cambodia temple ruins yield treasure

Religion was outlawed under the Khmer Rouge

Workers clearing dense jungle near the ruins of an ancient pagoda in northern
Cambodia have unearthed 31 Buddha statues - 27 of them solid gold.

The statues - which are 10 centimetres (4 inches) tall - are in good condition
and believed to be hundreds of years old.

They were found on Saturday as workers were rebuilding the Po Pich temple about
100 km (65miles) north of the capital, Phnom Penh.

The pagoda, in the Batay district of Kampong Thom province, was torn down during
the reign of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and the area became overgrown.





Community care

Deputy police chief of Kampong Thom province, Hang Sithim, said the statues -
three of which were silver and one bronze - were buried in about one metre
(3.4ft) of earth and each weigh around 500 grams (1lb).









''I think that these Buddha statues had been buried hundreds of years ago, when
the last temple was fully operating," Mr Hang Sithim said.

Provincial authorities initially planned to take the statues to a nearby town
for safekeeping, but opted to allow the Buddhist community at the temple to take
care of them.



''We believe they are safe there,'' said Som Somphat, deputy governor of Kampong
Thom province.

''The people of Po Pich pledged to treat them with respect and honour.''

Reign of terror

A police guard has been placed around the site to protect it from looters.

The Khmer Rouge waged civil war in Cambodia between 1970 and 1998 and controlled
the country between 1975 and 1979.

The regime outlawed religion and destroyed many objects regarded as decadent or
culturally impure.

About two million people died in the Khmer Rouge's drive to turn Cambodia into a
farmers' utopia.

See also:


22 Aug 02 | Asia-Pacific
Cambodia to resume UN tribunal talks

22 Nov 01 | Crossing Continents
Cambodia's temples of hope

13 Jan 01 | From Our Own Correspondent
Cambodia: Life after death

29 Feb 00 | Asia-Pacific
Plundering the treasures of a lost civilisation

14 Apr 00 | Asia-Pacific
Pol Pot: Life of a tyrant

26 Feb 02 | Country profiles
Country profile: Cambodia

19 Jul 02 | Asia-Pacific
Timeline: Cambodia

Internet links:


Cambodia - Kingdom of Nature
Cambodia's UN mission

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

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In This Section S Korea subway inferno toll rises US plays down N Korean threat
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