Ancient temples of Cambodia: description, history and interesting facts

The main attraction of Cambodia are its temples, which in the country's great variety. Today we will tell you about the most interesting and majestic ones, which impress the imagination with unthinkable bas-reliefs and original masonry.

The complex of temples in Cambodia occupies huge territories, and it should be noted that many of them are still in the research stage.

Features of the country

Cambodia attracts tourists with originality - this is not Thailand, a little embellished and convenient for tourists. Travelers usually make an indelible impression of wild lands, free smiling people and the extraordinary temples of Cambodia. These are amazing ensembles, which even Hollywood has not ignored, repeatedly selecting them as scenery for their paintings.

Experienced tourists note the features that are directly related to the sightseeing of this country, which should be known to those who only plan a trip:

1. All the temples are magnificent at different times of the day: some at dawn, others by day, some at dusk.
2. Survey of ancient complexes takes a lot of time, so the event should be given at least three days to see the most interesting places. At this time, you can rent a room in one of the hotels located nearby the town of Siemrip.
3. To inspect the complex Angkor it makes sense to think about renting a car, as many buildings are at a decent distance from each other.

Angkor: ancient temples of Cambodia

This is the region of the country, which has become the cradle for the largest empire of South Asia - Khmer. Its greatness and prosperity belongs to the IX-XV centuries. At that time, Angkor was one of the largest cities in the world, and its temples were already known far beyond the borders of the empire.

In 1431 the troops of Siam destroyed the city, and its inhabitants were forced to leave it. Since that time, Angkor, together with more than a hundred temples and palaces have remained, in fact, abandoned in the thick tropical forests. And it was not until the end of the 19th century that the naturalist Ann Muo from France published several works that were devoted to Angkor.

Even Rudyard Kipling wrote his famous work about Mowgli - "The Book of the Jungle" - after visiting Angkor. Since 1992, the temple complex is under the protection of UNESCO. This ancient Cambodian province became the birthplace of priceless architectural monuments of the Khmer Empire.

Angkor is an ancient city

The temples of Angkor are witnesses to the existence of the largest pre-industrial city center on our planet, which in size exceeded the current New York. Today it is a huge open-air museum with an area of 200 km². It seems that the stone temples with decorated walls seem to grow out of the impenetrable jungle.

Scientists are still trying to solve the riddles of their construction, but Angkor carefully keeps its secrets. As in the heyday of the empire, Angkor today attracts travelers and explorers from all over the world like a magnet. And if in the old days the merchants traveled here, today's guests of this land are tourists.

Without exaggeration, it can be said that the temples of Cambodia, and Angkor in particular, are the most impressive place in Southeast Asia. The kings of the Khmer Empire did not spare the means to build a temple richer and more impressive than its predecessors.

Angkor Wat

The magnificent temple of Angkor Wat (Cambodia) is the undisputed gem of Angkor. His spiers have become a symbol and a visiting card of Cambodia. The temple consists of five towers of shrines, three galleries that increase in height to the center and are surrounded by a moat filled with water, a width of 190 meters. The structure profile imitates the unopened bud of the lotus.

The first gallery is an outer wall with a moat. It has square columns on the outside. The ceiling between them from the external facade is decorated with rosettes in the form of a lotus, and on the inside are depicted figures of dancers. The bas-reliefs, on the walls of all three galleries, depict scenes from different myths and many historical events.

A long alley connects the first gallery with the second one. You can climb it up the stairs, which are decorated on either side by sculptures of lions. In this gallery the inner walls are decorated with images of apsar-heavenly maidens.

The third gallery consists of five towers, which are crowned by the highest terrace. Here are very steep stairs, which symbolize the difficulty of climbing into the kingdom of the gods. On the walls of the gallery you can see numerous snakes. Their bodies end in the jaws of lions.

Interesting Facts

The stones of Angkor Wat are smooth, like a polished marble, laid without any adhesive solution. The main building material for this facility was sandstone, which was delivered to the construction site from Mount Kulen, which is 40 km away.

Almost all surfaces, including columns and roof lintels, are carved from stone. Between 1986 and 1992, the Indian Archaeological Society carried out restoration work in Angkor. The Temple of Wosh is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Bayonne

This temple was built in honor of Jayavarman VII. It has three levels. The main part of the decor of the temple - pictures depicting the daily life of the Khmer. The Bayon temple in Cambodia also has one deaf wall, 4.5 meters high. On it you can see the battle scenes on Lake Tonle Sap, in which the victory over the Chamas was won by Jayavarman VII.

In 1925, Bayon was recognized as a Buddhist sanctuary. In 1933, in the temple, more precisely, in the well of its foundation, found a Buddha statue, in which the apparent similarity with Jayavarman VII was clearly seen. During the Brahminist restoration, which was conducted immediately after the death of the ruler, she was desecrated. Later it was restored and installed on the terrace.

BAPUON

The temples of Cambodia are absolutely different, and this also amazes the guests of the country. Enjoying the extraordinary atmosphere of Bayon, go to the neighboring temple of Bapuon. For a long time in this territory there was only a construction site on which restorers worked for several decades. Their work, they jokingly called the collection of the most complex puzzle in the world. Only two years ago, tourists had the opportunity to visit this ancient Hindu temple. It is dedicated to Shiva.

It should be noted that all the ancient temples of Cambodia are very majestic. Historians argue that in ancient times, BAPUON was one of the most beautiful in Angkor. But in the early fifties of the last century it was almost on the verge of destruction. French archaeologists together with a team of restorers decided that there is only one way to preserve it - to completely disassemble, strengthen the foundation, and only after that to assemble the building.

In the early 60's, BAPUON was dismantled. During the dismantling, the temple blocks were moved to the jungle, each block having its own number. In the mid-1970s, the Khmer Rouge came to power in the country, and restoration work was stopped. Later it turned out that the Khmer Rouge destroyed documents on the dismantling of the temple, and there was no information how to collect 300 thousand stone blocks. Architects had to use photographs and memories of local residents.

Ta-Prom

Probably, Cambodia will never cease to amaze tourists. Temples in the jungle can be seen almost throughout the country. But one of them - Ta Prohm - just perfectly fits Kipling's description. This is a huge temple-monastery, completely absorbed by the jungle.

Experts believe that he is the most poetic in Angkor, there is an amazing atmosphere created by huge trees that twist the walls. They sprouted through the stones and hang over the towers. Over the centuries, the roots are so intertwined with the walls that trees can not be removed without damaging the buildings.

Ta-Prom was built during the reign of Jayavarman as a Buddhist temple occupying a vast territory. However, in architecture, it is not like other churches in Cambodia. It is a chain of one-story buildings, which are connected with each other through galleries and aisles. Many of them are inaccessible today, because they are littered with stones.

The uniqueness of this temple lies in the fact that on the stone walls are carved many ancient inscriptions. On the stone stela, which can now be seen in the National Museum of Angkor, it is inscribed that during the heyday of the temple there were 3140 villages, 79 365 people worked here, 18 high priests, 2800 clerks were serving. Inside the church there were constantly more than 12 000 people.

On the site of the forest, which today surrounds the temple, in ancient times there was a lively big city, and in its treasuries a large number of jewelry was stored. Now it is difficult to believe in this, as many buildings have turned into ruins. There are two kinds of trees: the largest one is a banyan with thick, light brown roots, and the second is a fig-tree strangler. It is distinguished by a number of thin, perfectly smooth roots of gray color.

The seeds of the tree fall into the crevice in the masonry of the structure and the roots grow downward, stretching to the ground. We have already talked about the fact that the temples of Cambodia are able to surprise even the most modern scientists with their riddles. One of them is an image of a dinosaur carved on the wall of the Ta Prohm temple, to which guides like to bring excursion groups. However, until now no one can explain where the ancient Khmers could see the dinosaur.