Back to life brick by brick One of Sri Lanka’s foremost conservation experts, Nilan Cooray talks to Smriti Daniel about the challenges of restoring ancient monuments to their former glory View(s): View(s):Nilan Cooray understands how cruel time is to beautiful buildings. He is no stranger to slow erosion by Sun, wind and rain; the shifting earth and the tunnelling roots that prise apart brick and mortar. “They were very thin compared to the modern brick, but the surface area is more, and so the compression strength is more,” he explains. However, it requires more than experts like him to bring a monument fully back to life. Right now, they are very much in the early stages, but Cooray is filled with the anticipation every new project brings.

Source: Sunday Times September 24, 2016 20:17 UTC