Saltwater damage could see precious historical Buddhist artworks dating back hundreds of years slowly fade entirely from viewIf you look closely, you can just about see the characters and scenes that once stretched across the walls of Wat Prasat,...

Saltwater damage could see precious historical Buddhist artworks dating back hundreds of years slowly fade entirely from view

If you look closely, you can just about see the characters and scenes that once stretched across the walls of Wat Prasat, a temple in Nonthaburi. There’s the dark shape of an elephant’s head, a figure slouching on its back; outlines of swords pointing upwards to the centre of the display; patches of curved roofs.

“The mural used to be more vivid,” says Phra Maha Natee, the abbot of Wat Prasat. Even when he was a novice monk, 20 years ago, the image – which shows one of the j?takas stories that recall the Buddha’s past lives – was easier to understand. “The colour was brighter and sharper,” he says.

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