Networking Core Exchange Program – Mongolia: Cooperation with conservation of the Amarbayasgalant Temple
From the end of June to the beginning of July and at the end of August, we conducted a workshop and conservation survey at the Tibetan temple Amarbayasgalant of the Selenge Aimag (province) in northern Mongolia, jointly with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in Mongolia.
The theme of this year’s workshop was to build a plan for the conservation management of cultural properties, and we set a target for determining a conservation area for the time being. In this 20th year since religious activities at the Amarbayasgalant temple restarted, new building and maintenance of the temple associated facilities stepped up and, and the historical scenery, a key part of heritage values, is rapidly changing. There is also a concern about the influence on the conservation of the underground remains of old temple buildings. To prevent this, we repeated the field survey and discussion together with the representatives of the prefecture, county and local public. We reached the basic agreement for the policy that a wide area, including the surrounding mountains adored by people and the material production site when the temple was built, is to be designated as a conservation region based on the Laws for Protection of Cultural Properties.
Meanwhile, the temple consisting of many wooden buildings, suffered deterioration and damage because of aging and insufficient maintenance, and thus part of the damaged building could endanger the safety of human lives. In the August mission, therefore, we conducted a basic survey on the conservation status of all buildings, which served concurrently as the training of young Mongolian engineers, in parallel with the above-mentioned workshop. The report on the results of survey carried out with the four trainees, who also participated in the last year’s practical training, will be submitted to the Mongolian Government. We hope that the report will be used for future emergent measures and full-scale restoration planning.