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1999 Angkor Wat (Siem Reap, Cambodia)
Angkor Wat (or Angkor Vat) is a temple at
Angkor, Cambodia, built for king Suryavarman
II in the early 12th century as his state
temple and capital city. The largest and
best-preserved temple at the site, it is the
only one to have remained a significant
religious centre—first Hindu, then
Buddhist—since its foundation. The temple
is the epitome of the high classical style of
Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of
Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and
it is the country's prime attraction for
visitors. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans
of Khmer temple architecture: the temple
mountain and the later galleried temples. It
is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of
the gods in Hindu mythology: within a moat
and an outer wall 3.6 km (2.2 miles) long are
three rectangular galleries, each raised
above the next. At the centre of the temple
stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most
Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to
the west; scholars are divided as to the
significance of this. As well as for the
grandeur and harmony of the architecture, the
temple is admired for its extensive
bas-reliefs and for the numerous devatas
adorning its walls.
The initial design and construction of the
temple took place in the first half of the
12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman
II (ruled 1113--c. 1150). Dedicated to
Vishnu, it was built as the king's state
temple and capital city. As neither the
foundation stela nor any contemporary
inscriptions referring to the temple have
been found, its original name is unknown. It
is located 5.5 km north of the modern town of
Siem Reap, and a short distance south and
slightly east of the previous capital, which
was centred on the Baphuon. Work seems to
have come to an end on the king's death, with
some of the bas-reliefs unfinished. [1] In
1177 Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the
traditional enemies of the Khmer. Thereafter
the empire was restored by a new king,
Jayavarman VII, who established a new capital
and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon
respectively) which lie a few kilometres to
the north.
In the 14th or 15th century the temple was
converted to Theravada Buddhist use, which
continues to the present day. Angkor Wat is
unusual among the Angkor temples in that
although it was somewhat neglected after the
16th century it was never completely
abandoned. Its moat also provided some
protection from encroachment by the
jungle.[2] Around this time the temple was
known as Preah Pisnulok, after the posthumous
title of Suryavarman. The modern name, in use
by the 16th century,[3] means "City Temple":
Angkor is a vernacular form of the word nokor
which comes from the Sanskrit word nagara
(capital), while wat is the Khmer word for
temple.
One of the first Western visitors to the
temple was Antonio da Magdalena, a Portuguese
monk who visited in 1586 and said that it "is
of such extraordinary construction that it is
not possible to describe it with a pen,
particularly since it is like no other
building in the world. It has towers and
decoration and all the refinements which the
human genius can conceive of".[4] However,
the temple was popularised in the West only
in the mid-19th century on the publication of
Henri Mouhot's travel notes. The French
explorer wrote of it:
One of these temples—a rival to that of
Solomon, and erected by some ancient
Michelangelo—might take an honourable place
beside our most beautiful buildings. It is
grander than anything left to us by Greece or
Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the
state of barbarism in which the nation is now
plunged.[5]
Mouhot, like other early Western visitors,
was unable to believe that the Khmers could
have built the temple, and mistakenly dated
it to around the same era as Rome. The true
history of Angkor Wat was pieced together
only from stylistic and epigraphic evidence
accumulated during the subsequent clearing
and restoration work carried out across the
whole Angkor site.
Angkor Wat required considerable restoration
in the 20th century, mainly the removal of
accumulated earth and vegetation.[6] Work was
interrupted by the civil war and Khmer Rouge
control of the country during the 1970s and
1980s, but relatively little damage was done
during this period other than the theft and
destruction of mostly post-Angkorian
statues.[7]
The temple has become a symbol of Cambodia,
and is a source of great pride for the
country's people. A depiction of Angkor Wat
has been a part of every Cambodian national
flag since the introduction of the first
version circa 1863[8]—the only building to
appear on any national flag.[9] In January
2003 riots erupted in Phnom Penh when a false
rumour circulated that a Thai soap opera
actress had claimed that Angkor Wat belonged
to Thailand (wikipedia)
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Tags : Angkor Wat Vat Cambodge Cambodia Kambodscha Cambogia कम्बूजा カンボジア 캄보디아 柬埔寨 ประเทศกัมพูชา Khmer Siem Reap temple hindu |
