Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni was officially accepted in the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-lettres this past Friday during a ceremony under the dome of the Institut de France. The King was installed as a foreign associate because of Cambodia’s link to France as well as its rich culture and history.
canalacademic.com
During the ceremony, academics such as Jean Leclant, the permanent secretary of the Academy, Franciscus Verellen, the director of the French School of Far East since 2004, and Azzedine Beschaouch, another foreign associate, gave speeches on the Khmer culture’s influence on France and the need to preserve that culture.
At the end, King Sihamoni delivered his speech in reply to what the men before him said.
“The veneration of the temples and the scrupulous respect of the high places of spirituality are an ancient tradition of our family. Upon entering, today in the temple of knowledge and consciousness, we reserve the first words to express our gratitude,” he said.
“We owe in large part to the prestige of our father. Taking the double challenge of truth and freedom, His Majesty Norodom Sihanouk has to be, in effect, the man of Bandung in 1955, and the host, in Phnom Penh, General de Gaulle in 1966. Along with our father who made history, we’ve learned to never give in to despair. Thus, when times were marked with iron tyranny, we know, definitively, that the dignity of the human condition lies in the refusal of servitude and rejecting paths of dishonor.”
With that, the King received a standing ovation.
The Academy of Inscriptions was founded in 1663 to serve the study of humanities. It is one the five academies of the Institut de France.
To learn more about the Academy, here’s a link: http://www.aibl.fr/us/sommaire/som.html
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