Siem Reap

The Siem Reap Centre, Cambodia

Head: Éric Bourdonneau
EFEO Angkor
Boeung Daun Pa, Slorkram, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Address :
BP 93 300
Siem Reap, Cambodia

Mobile : (+855) 99 937 507
Mail : eric.bourdonneau@efeo.net

Library: M. TAUCH Atakama
Mobile: (+855) 12 329 317
Mail bibliothèque : siemreap.bib@efeo.net; efeo.bib@gmail.com

The EFEO Center in Siem Reap has been for over a century a major actor in the restoration of the Angkor monuments and the development of Khmer studies. It was in 1907 that the EFEO was charged with the inventory and preservation of the Angkor site. A year later, in order to safeguard the many temples scattered through some 400 km2of forest, the EFEO established a permanent branch named the "Angkor Conservation". After independence in 1953, this institution was attached to the Cambodian Ministry of Culture but remained under EFEO control until the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975. A succession of distinguished EFEO archaeologists and architects were responsible for the restoration projects of Angkor: Henri Parmentier, Henri Marchal, Jean Laur, Bernard Philippe Groslier, Jacques Dumarçay, and many others.

In 1992, the Cambodian government invited the EFEO to return to its former location in Siem Reap and to reopen its center there. Since then, many new research and restoration projects have been carried out in collaboration with APSARA, the Cambodian organization responsible for managing the site, and within a system of international cooperation coordinated by UNESCO.

Today, the activities of the center aim at covering the main fields of study that contribute to a better knowledge of the history and heritage of ancient Cambodia. About ten research projects are currently underway, mobilizing a wide range of disciplines in the human sciences: history, archaeology, epigraphy, philology, linguistics, and anthropology.

These projects are led by six EFEO researchers: Éric Bourdonneau, Damian Evans, Jacques Gaucher, Christophe Pottier, Dominique Soutif and Brice Vincent.

The center hosts many Cambodian and European interns at its worksites along with EFEO doctoral candidates and fellowship holders. Its facilities, comprising several buildings, host permanent and visiting research teams as well as international conferences and seminars.

A library including archival materials on the site of Angkor is open to the public.