PROJECTS & ACTIVITIES
COLLECTION INVENTORY PROJECT
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The National Museum of Cambodia (NMC), which houses the world’s finest collection of Khmer cultural material, is conducting a comprehensive inventory of its collection. The collection primarily comprises sculpture in stone, bronze and wood from the Pre-Angkorian, Angkorian and Post-Angkorian periods but also includes Cambodian textiles, ceramics and ethnographic material.

When the Museum officially opened on 13 April 1920, there were over 1,000 objects on display. Today the Museum has approximately 14,000 objects and the collection is growing at a rate of over 300 objects per  year.

The majority of the collection is stored in a basement storage area. As a result of the turmoil caused by civil war followed by the Khmer Rouge period (1975-1979) and then years of reconstruction, no complete inventory of the collection has been taken for decades. While the Museum suffered from neglect during the 1970s, it was during the 1980s that numerous objects are known to have been stolen while many others are simply unaccounted for. The rapid growth of the collection combined with the lack of a complete inventory, mean that the scope of the collection is unclear and therefore potentially vulnerable.

A project team of assistant registrars have been trained by Mr Darryl Collins, an experienced registrar and art historian who has been working and living in Cambodia since 1994.

The registration process involves a stocktake of each object in the Museum’s collection. It incorporates the addition of identification tags and/or numbering where necessary as well as recording each piece via digital photographs. The condition of every object is noted and those in need of conservation treatment identified. At the same time, the location of all objects is recorded according to a consistent system.

This project brings together, and draws on, all existing registration methods used by the Museum at different times in the past, including several French card catalogue systems, Khmer handwritten inventory lists and a pre-existing database. As part of the inventory and cataloguing project, all previous documents relevant to a particular object have been scanned and will be attached to that object’s record in a newly developed database. The new database works in Khmer, English and French. It was designed to international standards especially for the National Museum of Cambodia by two German computer specialists, Alexander Knoebl and Professor Georg Bock, in consultation with Museum staff and is a gift from its developers to the Museum.

The collection stocktake/cataloguing project commenced in the Museum’s basement storage area, which is the repository of all museum objects not currently on display. Also stored in the basement are archaeological reference collections and a small group of non-Cambodian objects.

The benefits of maintaining up to date collection information are summarised below:

Proof of legal ownership of an object

In recent years the National Museum of Cambodia with the assistance of UNESCO, the International Council of Museums and Interpol have successfully restituted 8 Khmer objects that were illegally exported. This is a very small number compared to the amount of antiquities, which have been stolen from Cambodia leading to great losses in terms of the nation’s cultural heritage.

An inventory of the Museum’s collection will strengthen documentation and guard against further losses of cultural heritage material and will clarify what has already been lost from the collection. As well as being a valuable resource, it will act as a preventative measure in the fight to curtail the continuing loss of cultural heritage.

Previous records of all objects will be scanned and attached to the object’s record within the new database. This will also apply to objects no longer in the collection, each of which will have a unique record on the new system. Items in this category that have been lost or stolen can be listed on international registers of such items, a process that may lead to future restitution.

Quality of research about the Museum collection will improve

Proper documentation within a computerised catalogue will improve the quality, efficiency and productivity of research.

Locating and accessing collections will become easier

The inventory project will record the locations of all objects within the collection greatly improving the ease with which these objects can be accessed in the future.

Developing a condition history for objects

It is important to record the present condition of an object. If an object were damaged in the future, a detailed description would assist in conservation of the item.

Reducing wear and tear on objects

Documenting, describing and photographing objects well will reduce wear and tear on objects by reducing the need to access the actual object.

It is envisaged that this project will take place within a timeframe of approximately three years. However, as this is the first survey of its kind at the National Museum of Cambodia it is impossible to be absolute about the amount of time required to complete the work. An itemised budget for the first year is attached to this document.

Contacts

Hab Touch, Director, National Museum of Cambodia
mob: +855 0(12) 621 522

National Museum of Cambodia, Phnom Penh
tel/fax: 855 (23) 211 753
E-mail: museum_cam@camnet.com.kh

The collection Inventory Project is supported the Leon Levy Foundation for the National Museum of Cambodia.

Shelby White is a classical collector and Asian connoisseur and with the late Leon Levy through the Leon Levy Foundation has funded publicationss, catalogues, archaeological digs and conferences. She views her contributions in the light of a facilitator in the transmission of cultural scholarship.

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