These two volumes are welcome contributions to the study of early Southeast Asia's artistic and architectural heritage. They demonstrate ongoing international efforts to conserve Southeast Asian heritage in the twenty-first century. They also indicate sustained interest among art historians and connoisseurs in early Southeast Asia and perhaps reason to hope for many more such publications to come.
William Chapman's A Heritage of Ruins is a survey of some of the more famous ruins of Southeast Asia and a historical account of their conservation and restoration in modern times. The book focuses on the region's “ancient” ruins, or more precisely the remains of Hindu and Buddhist constructions built before the eighteenth century CE. At the center of Chapman's story are not the original builders but the colonial scholars, nation-state leaders, and international conservators who ushered Southeast Asia's ruins into the era of heritage preservation and mass tourism.
The colonial legacy of...
