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Restoration of Sigiriya frescoes vandalized in 1967-by Raja de Silva Source:Island Excerpted from SIGIRIYA PAINTINGS by Raja de Silva , Retired Commissioner of Archaeology On the morning of October 15, 1967, the Archaeology Commissionner, Dr. CE Godakumbure, instructed me to go immediately to Sigiriya and take necessary action to remove the green ink (S. theentha), which, according to an incoherent message received from the Overseer, was understood to have been splashed on the paintings in the fresco pocket by vandals during the previous night. I arrived that evening at Sigiriya with my conservation staff and the onset of the rainy season of the North-East Monsoon, and with liberal quantities of chemicals for the removal of ink. I was informed that the priceless paintings had been daubed not with ink but with a green paint. The paintings were inspected the next morning in the company of the Police, who had locked with a new padlock, ...