Continuous support for independent maintenance and managementHayashi herself has been involved in a number of projects at World Heritage Sites around the globe, including working with museums that hold cultural heritage artifacts. She remains par-ticularly impressed by efforts undertaken at Angkor in Cambodia.16SOPHIA MAGAZINE Vol. 1712341. Oman for Afghanistan 2. Angkor 3. Museum Forum in Shenzhen China 4. Haram Al Sharif, Jerusalem Monuments (2001)“Being designated a World Heritage Site is only the beginning. It is estimated that around 20% of the 1,199 designated sites present serious preservation and restoration issues. How to protect sites post-registration is a vital consideration,” Hayashi said. World Heritage Sites have universal value to humanity, and ensuring resolution of such issues is a crucial part of UNESCO’s mission to have the sites passed down to future generations.“The image most people have of ‘Angkor Wat is probably the area of the temple.’ However, the World Heritage Site is much larger than that: Angkor is a 400 square kilometer archaeological park. These archaeological remains must be restored and maintained in a way that the living space of the many people who have con-tinued to be there for many generations is preserved.”The circumstances of the inscription of Angkor were slightly dif-ferent from those of other World Heritage Sites. Angkor was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1992, only one year after the conclusion of conflicts in Cambodia. Various types of main-tenance and repair work normally conducted prior to a location being designated had to be carried out after designation. The rea-son is that many who would normally have played a central role lost their lives in the conflicts or went into exile.Hayashi joined the Cambodia project in 2002. The site had been designated a World Heritage Site a decade earlier. Although landmines no longer riddled the site, Cambodia still lacked the resources to maintain the site independently. Therefore, preserva-tion and restoration activities had to share support with different projects such as the training of archeologists, architects, and other specialists at the Royal University of Fine Arts and other educa-tional institutions.“In the 30 years since we began supporting the region, we’ve been able to train around 300 experts. I feel that the country is definitely coming close to autonomy in terms of heritage preservation.”A project to restore the Bamiyan Buddhas destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban also began in 2002. After the removal of rocks, con-tinuous work in the region such as wall repair and recording of Buddhist cave paintings was carried out. Due to the unstable po-litical situation, this project is a much more difficult and time con-suming project than others.The news that the Taliban returned to power in 2021 came as a shock to Hayashi but she says the situation today is different from 20 years ago. She is now optimistic about current project directions.Recalling another project that had a great impact on her, Hayashi mentioned her activities from 2006 to 2017 in her capacity as UNESCO Museums Programme Coordinator. The focus of con-servation and restoration in this position was on moveable cul-tural properties rather than on on-site ruins. One of the major issues in the case of museums is that many developing countries often have not maintained records of their collections.“If you have a record of inventory, it becomes possible to prove ownership. Then, if something is stolen, an official demand can be made to authorities for return of the objects in question. In reality, however, many museums are not fully aware of what they have.”In many cases, cultural properties are stored in shocking condi-tions. It is difficult to provide assistance in areas of intense politi-cal strife, such as the Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif) archives and museum in Jerusalem, managed under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Jordan. There are major difficulties with delivering supplies or obtaining visas in a timely manner.Hayashi worked on everything from initial drafting to policy-level proposals for museums and collections adopted by UNESCO member countries in 2015 to address common issues in globally diverse museums. “The situation and level of awareness can vary greatly from coun-try to country. I worked hard to create a document that could be agreed upon by everyone and be adopted by all UNESCO
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