ANGKOR and I

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112 Jean Commaille, the First French Conservator Angkor archaeological sites such as Angkor Wat had been ushered into the world since the latter half of the 19th century. Henceforth I intend speaking of the relationship between the Angkor ruins and “human beings,” a tale of four men who were enraptured by Angkor Wat, and whose destinies underwent a wholehearted transformation after they had encountered the monument. The French naturalist Henri Mouhot came to Angkor Wat on January 22, 1860, and remained for 3 weeks. His perceptive eyes made him realize that the Angkor ruins were a historical heritage of a great dynasty that had once existed, and he noted down that fact in his research diary. The research diary was later published and highly assessed (“The Discovery of Angkor Wat,” Gakuseisha). He has been referred to as “one who rediscovered the Angkor Ruins,” but a year after visiting Angkor he died of a fever in Luang Prabang, in Laos. After the French-Cambodia Conservation Treaty of 1863, France established in 1878 the “French Indochina Federation,” with a view to regain the three regions (Angkor, Battambang and Sisophon) that had been amalgamated with Thailand, by exerting pressure on Siam. Hence, in accordance with the French-Siamese Treaty that was signed on March 23, 1907, those three regions were restored to Cambodia by Siam. That is to say the earlier dwelling place of the Angkor dynasty had returned, after the lapse of around 200 years since being placed under the effective control of the Siamese. In 1908, the Angkor Conservation Office was established in Cambodia by the EFEO, and on July 14th of that year Jean Commaille was selected as the first conservator of the Angkor archaeological site, which at the time was of great interest to all. He was a person who had earlier been a local administrator for the colonial government.