The Sweeper of Ta Prohm

The Sweeper of Ta Prohm

In memory of Nhiem Chun, the Sweeper of Ta Prohm, who sadly passed away earlier this year.

He is as much an icon of Angkor as the tangled roots that slowly choke the ancient stones of Ta Prohm. Man first conquered nature to create, nature slowly conquered man to destroy. But Nhiem Chun has dedicated his life to stemming the tide of nature, bent double, stooping low over the stones to sweep away the falling leaves each day.

I first met Nhiem back in 1995 when exploring Ta Prohm. He was more sprightly then, nimbly gliding over fallen pillars, tumbled stones and moss-clad lintels in search of his quarry, those ever-falling leaves. Nhiem’s face was every bit as chiselled and characterful as the beautiful devedas that still lined the galleries.

Years later he was immortalised by Lonely Planet when his iconic image was selected as the cover shot for the fourth edition of the Cambodia guidebook. It was a definitive shot, Nhiem standing in front of the ‘Tomb Raider tree’, the place where Angelina Jolie had plucked a jasmine bud and fallen through the earth into… Pinewood Studios. Nhiem soon became an A-list Angkor celebrity himself and crowds thronged around him wanting a photograph.

At 85, Nhiem Chun is about the same age as King Sihanouk, although their lives could hardly be more different. He grew up tending buffalo and helping with the harvest, but had a chance meeting with Angkor curator Henri Marchal in 1941 and began work as a labourer helping with temple restoration at Angkor. It was the start of a lifelong love affair with the temples and Nhiem was destined to spend the next 65 years of his life working amid the sacred stones.

Nhiem’s world crumbled around him when the Khmer Rouge came to power. “In the 1970s, our lives were turned upside down. I could not do my job, I had to work the land,” says Nhiem. “You had no choice. You would be killed.” More precious than his beloved temples, his two sons disappeared during the Khmer Rouge regime. “When the fighting was over, my two sons were still missing,” he recalls. “I was told they had been killed by the Khmer Rouge, their throats slit with sharpened sugar palm fronds.”

In 2006, the BBC came to Cambodia to film “Who Cares About Art?” and Nhiem Chun was our subject, the loyal guardian of Ta Prohm. We spent several days with him, learning about his life, his loves, and his loss. “The older I get the more I love this place. These temples are the spirit of the Cambodian nation,” muses Nhiem, wandering about Ta Prohm. “I could have built this temple in a past life. If I did not have any connection, I would not be here to take care of it today.”

Nhiem is not getting any younger and frets about the future: “I am old now. I can’t take care of these temples any more,” he opines wistfully. “But when I am gone, these stones will still be here. These temples are the symbols of our soul. We will not survive if we don’t look after our temples.”

Like the ancient stones of Ta Prohm, like his beloved monarch Sihanouk, Nhiem Chun has experienced light and dark. A life lived among beauty and brilliance, he has also experienced the ugly side of man. But life has gone on and the leaves continue to fall. “If I don’t sweep, the leaves will cover the temple. I must sweep,” he mutters. Nhiem Chun is a man for all seasons.

More stories at http://www.hanumantourism.com/wordpress/

For a virtual tour of the temples See Paul Stewart's site

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