Recently. the Cambodians made an announcement that Thai artillery fire seriously damaged part of Preah Vihear temple:
“A wing of our Preah Vihear Temple has collapsed as a direct result of the Thai artillery bombardment,” the government quoted a Cambodian military commander based near the temple as saying. It did not say how large the wing was.
I’ve seen this quote in several articles but have yet to hear more specific information about which part of the temple has collapsed or seen pictures. I am hopeful it is an exaggeration meant to get the UN more involved.
However, I recently saw the photo below in a news article:
It is difficult to tell for sure, but that looks like the Fifth Gopura (the first structure you encounter on your climb up to the main sanctuary). When I first visited in 2007 that gopura was in pretty bad shape, but perhaps not as bad as it is now?
However, Andy Brouwer visited in 2009 and from his photo it seems that the Fifth Gopura had already suffered some damage and there were several wood braces holding up portions of the temple. It’s hard to tell if this could be the portion of the temple that has collapsed as a result of the fighting.
KI-Media posted a map of some of the damage incurred over the last few days, although there are still no specific details.
Sad. 😦
I agree. I just saw now that they say 4 gopuras have been damaged:
http://ki-media.blogspot.com/2011/02/four-gopuras-of-landmark-shiva-temple.html
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