Siem Reap, Day 2 - Angkor Wat

Love is in the air, still... this year would be our 22 years anniversary. It was our 17th years wedding anniversary on the steps of Angkor Wat in 2007. May our love, compassion and understanding will make it through the old days together. Amen!

We had lunch before we adjourned to Angkor Wat. It was not really a good weather for photography. But it was okay as most of the details of Angkor Wat was captured in my camera. Anyway, Angkor Wat, means "Temple City" or "City of Temples" in Khmer language sit not far from the Angkhor Thom. It is the largest Hindu temple complex in Cambodia built by a king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yasodharapura, the capital of the Khmer Empire as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. If Angkor Thom was dedicated to Shiva, Angkor Wat was dedicated to Vishnu. The best preserved temple is the only remained significant religious centre since its foundation, first the Hindu God, later the Buddhism. The temple is at the top 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 is being built in a moat, a deep, broad ditch filled with water, that surrounds a temple, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. The purpose of the moat of artificial @ man made lake evolved into more extensive water defences (such as the case for Beijing Forbidden City in China).

To the Angkorian Khmer, nagas were symbols of water and figured in the myths of origin for the Khmer people, who were said to be descended from the union of an Indian Brahman and a serpent princess from Cambodia. Nagas were also characters in other well-known legends and stories depicted in Khmer art, such as the churning of the Ocean of Milk, the legend of the Leper King as depicted in the bas-reliefs of the Bayon, and the story of Mucalinda, the serpent king who protected the Buddha from the elements. Below Naga is placed right before the entrance gate of Angkor Wat after crossing a moat.

The complex was completed at the origin state within 40 years as it seems to have ended shortly after the death of king Suryavarman II, leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished. In 1177, approximately 27 years after, 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 in Angkor Thom, a few kilometres to the north. In the late 13th century, Angkor Wat gradually moved from Hindu to Theravada Buddhist use, which continues to the present day. Unlike other Angkor temple, Angkor Wat was never completely abandoned, its preservation being due in part to the fact that its moat also provided some protection from encroachment by the jungle.

Apsara is a divine nymphs or celestial dancing girls, a characters from Indian mythology. Their origin is explained in the story of the churning of the Ocean of Milk (a story told in Hindu cosmology), or Samudra Manthan, found in the Vishnu Purana episodes. Other stories in the Mahabharata detail the exploits of individual apsaras, who were often used by the gods as agents to persuade or seduce mythological demons, heroes and ascetics. The widespread use of apsaras as a motif for decorating the walls and pillars of temples and other religious buildings, however, was a Khmer innovation. In modern descriptions of Angkorian temples, the term "apsara" is sometimes used to refer not only to dancers but also to other minor female deities. The last 3 photos in this entry and below photo are the creation on the Angkor internal wall. 

The temple is a powerful symbol of Cambodia and a source of great national pride that has factored into Cambodia's diplomatic relations with France, the United States and its neighbour Thailand.

The temple stands on a terrace raised higher than the city. It is made of three rectangular galleries rising to a central tower, each level higher than the last. Scholars interprets these galleries as being dedicated to the king, god Brahma, the moon, and god Vishnu. Each gallery has a monumental tower at each of the points, and the two inner galleries each have towers at their corners, forming a quincunx with the central tower.

Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture, the temple mountain and the later galleried temple. It was based on early Dravidian Architecture (emerged thousands of years ago in southern continent of India by dravidian people), with key features such as the Jagati (raised temple). It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology, within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres long are 3 rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx (geometric patter of 5 points) of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west. The temple is worldwide admired for its grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs (sculptors from the Hindu mythology), and for the numerous devatas (female deities) adorning its walls.

From a basic knowlede of Mount Meru for the Hindus in the epic cosmology, I now understands why a group of Japanese tourist in below photo insisted of climbing a steep staricase despite their old age.

Angkor Wat has become a major tourist destination. It receives 561,000 foreign visitors in 2004 and 677,000 in 2005. The influx of tourists has so far caused relatively little damage, other than some graffiti, ropes and wooden steps which were introduced to protect the bas-reliefs and its floors. Tourism has also provided some additional funds for its maintenance. Approximately 28% of ticket revenues across the whole Angkor site was spent on the temples, although most work is carried out by foreign government-sponsored teams rather than by the Cambodian authorities.

The Archaeological Survey of India carried out restoration work on the temple between 1986 and 1992. Since the 1990s, Angkor Wat has seen continued conservation efforts and a massive increase in tourism. The temple is part of the Angkor World Heritage Site, established in 1992, which has provided some funding which encouraged the Cambodian government to protect the site. The German Apsara Conservation Project (GACP) is working to protect the devatas and other bas-reliefs which decorate the temple from damage. The organisation's survey found that around 20% of the devatas were in very poor condition, mainly because of natural erosion and deterioration of the stone but in part also due to earlier restoration efforts.

I pray that I will not bored you guys with the details and the history of Angkor Wat. As in the future, I'm not going to go back to any History books and/or the website to know the basic information knowing that I have all in here for record and future reference.

to be continued...