Bronze
Conservation Laboratory
In 2005 the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
of the Smithsonian Institution undertook to establish a workshop
in the National Museum to train three Cambodian museum staff members
and one other intern in methods of bronze conservation. Under the
guidance Paul Jett, the head of the Galleries’ Conservation
Department, metals conservator Sean Charette began training the
team of Cambodians in techniques for the protection and restoration
of the National Museum of Cambodia’s approximately 6,800 metal
objects. Initial funding came from the Getty Foundation, Global
Heritage Fund and Fulbright Senior Specialist Program. In order
to continue the training for a second year, further funding was
required, and FOKCI is supporting this project. At the conclusion
of this project, not only will many of these important bronze objects
in the National Museum be conserved, but, as importantly, several
Cambodians will have become skilled in bronze conservation techniques.
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