“The Man from the Jungle”

Kazik is the affectionate name that Quang Nam people call architect Kazimierz Kwiatkowski (1944 - 1997). He spent 12 years in Vietnam and especially stayed for a long time at My Son Sanctuary to direct the restoration of ancient towers. "Around June 1981, the leaders of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam - Da Nang welcomed a special guest, Kazik, a relic restoration expert. He came to My Son to inspect the clearing and prepare the restoration plan for 1982", Mr. Ho Xuan Tinh recalled, from 1982 - 1994, the Vietnam - Poland cultural cooperation program was implemented and Kazik directly guided the restoration at My Son.

“He was able to adapt and persevere in the harsh and deprived life in My Son. He loved My Son so much that on moonlit nights, he went to Tower B1 alone and looked at the entire temple complex. During his time working in My Son, Kazik did not mind the sun, rain, or hardship. He lived and worked in My Son like a local, familiar with every trail and stream in the My Son valley,” said Mr. Tinh. He also said that although he had been in Vietnam for quite a while, Mr. Kazik had only learned a little Vietnamese. The two words he often used were “cuoc lui” (rice wine - PV) and “nuoc mam”.

Kazik’s close friend, Cham culture researcher Tran Ky Phuong, also admired Kazik’s down-to-earth nature. Mr. Phuong recalled: “I don’t know why Kazik loved My Son in a strange way. During the years when there was no funding, the restoration work had to be interrupted, and he had to return home. Whenever he had the chance, he would go to My Son right away, saying he missed My Son...”.

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In the book Kazimierz Kwiatkowski - Memoirs of a Special Man , Polish writer Jacek Zygmunt Matuszak wrote: “People also called him “the man from the jungle” because the jungle surrounded the temple complexes and initially Kazimierz lived in a hut made of thatch and bamboo. Because of his heroic fight to save this place as well as his work to protect other historical relics of Vietnam, he was also called “the knight of the relics”. He spared no effort, time and health to fight to save them” and “From the first day he arrived in My Son, he always said that this complex would be included in the UNESCO world heritage list”.

Respect the original elements of the monument

Kazik’s most important mark at My Son was his solution to reinforce the towers to prevent them from collapsing after a long period of suffering from bombs and mines of war. Mr. Ho Xuan Tinh commented that, as someone with many years of experience in the field of relic restoration in Europe, Kazik was very cautious when carrying out the restoration of a new type of architecture.

“For towers covered by trees, with roots penetrating the tower body, Kazik had workers clean them up and pull out all the roots. After that, he used the method of drilling anchors, then using cables to tighten the tower body,” said Mr. Tinh. With this method, many gaps and gaps in the tower were tightly compressed, making the anchors very sturdy.

Researcher Tran Ky Phuong said that between 1986 and 1990, the towers of Group A were reinforced. Thousands of cubic meters of broken bricks were moved and rearranged. After reinforcing in the above mentioned way, Kazik reused the old bricks that fell from the towers and used cement to restore the collapsed tower walls.

“Some conservation and museum officials in Quang Nam and Da Nang who were fortunate enough to work with Kazik learned from him the importance of being cautious, scientific and open-minded, always consulting many people before taking action. His dedicated work, not afraid of hardship and his passion for cultural heritage “inspired” those who participated in the restoration of My Son at that time,” Mr. Tinh shared. Mr. Tran Ky Phuong added that the thing he admired most about Kazik was the aesthetics of his works.

“With his high aesthetic sense, Kazik did not distort the temples but contributed to making them more beautiful. The most difficult point was to preserve the authenticity of the relic, which later helped My Son conquer UNESCO's criteria to be listed as a world cultural heritage,” said Mr. Phuong.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nhung-nguoi-danh-thuc-my-son-ong-tay-hiep-si-cuu-di-tich-185702418.htm