ANGKOR WAT TEMPLE
ANGKOR WAT TEMPLE
For the
American thrash metal band, see Angkor Wat (band).
Angkor Wat
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Name
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Proper
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Prasat Angkor Wat
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Location
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Location:
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Architecture and culture
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Primary
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Architectural
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History
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Date
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12th century
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Creator:
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Angkor Wat (Khmer:
អង្គរវត្ត) is the largest Hindu temple complex in the world. The temple was built by King
Suryavarman
II in the early 12th century in Yasodharapura
(Khmer:
យសោáž’ážšáž”ុážšៈ, present-day Angkor), the capital of the Khmer
Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from the Shaivism
tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the
best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a
significant religious centre since its foundation – first Hindu, dedicated
to the god Vishnu,
then Buddhist.
The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer
architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia,[1]
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 temple, based on early Dravidian Architecture, with key features
such as the Jagati. It is designed to represent Mount Meru,
home of the devas in Hindu
mythology: within a moat
and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi) 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. The temple is admired for
the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls.
The modern
name, Angkor Wat, means "Temple City" or "City of Temples"
in Khmer;
Angkor, meaning "city" or "capital city", is a
vernacular form of the word nokor (áž“áž‚ážš), which comes from the Sanskrit word nagar
(नगर).[2] Wat is the Khmer
word for "temple grounds", derived from the Pali word
"vatta" (वत्त).[3]
Prior to this time the temple was known as Preah Pisnulok (Vara
Vishnuloka in Sanskrit), after the posthumous title of its founder.[4]
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Contents
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History
King Suryavarman
II, the builder of Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat lies
5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi) north of the modern town of Siem Reap,
and a short distance south and slightly east of the previous capital, which was
centred at Baphuon.
It is in an area of Cambodia where there is an important group of ancient
structures. It is the southernmost of Angkor's main sites.
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, but it may have been known as Vrah Vishnu-lok ( literally
"Holy Vishnu'-Location'", Old Khmer' Cl. Sanskrit). after the
presiding deity. Work seems to have ended shortly after the king's death,
leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished.[5]
In 1177, approximately 27 years after the death of Suryavarman II, 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) 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. 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 preservation being due in
part to the fact that its moat also provided some protection from encroachment
by the jungle.[6]
One of the
first Western visitors to the temple was AntĂłnio da Madalena, 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."[7] In the
mid 19th century the temple was visited by the French naturalist and explorer, Henri
Mouhot, who popularised the site in the West through the publication of
travel notes, in which he wrote:
"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."[8]
Mouhot, like
other early Western visitors, found it difficult 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. There were no ordinary dwellings or
houses or other signs of settlement including cooking utensils, weapons, or
items of clothing usually found at ancient sites. Instead there is the evidence
of the monuments themselves.[9]
Facade of
Angkor Wat, a drawing by Henri Mouhot
French postcard
about Angkor Wat in 1911
Angkor Wat
required considerable restoration in the 20th century, mainly the removal of
accumulated earth and vegetation.[10]
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.[11]
The temple is a
powerful symbol of Cambodia, and is a source of great national pride that has
factored into Cambodia's diplomatic relations with France, the United States
and its neighbour Thailand. A depiction of Angkor Wat has been a part of Cambodian
national flags since the introduction of the first version circa 1863.[12] From
a larger historical and even transcultural perspective, however, the temple of
Angkor Wat did not became a symbol of national pride sui generis but had been
inscribed into a larger politico-cultural process of French-colonial heritage
production in which the original temple site was presented in French colonial
and universal exhibitions in Paris and Marseille between 1889 and 1937.[13]
The splendid
artistic legacy of Angkor Wat and other Khmer monuments in the Angkor region led
directly to France adopting Cambodia as a protectorate
on 11 August 1863 and invading Siam to take control of the ruins. This quickly
led to Cambodia reclaiming lands in the northwestern corner of the country that
had been under Siamese (Thai) control since 1351 AD (Manich Jumsai 2001), or by
some accounts, 1431 AD.[14]
Cambodia gained independence from France on 9 November 1953 and has controlled
Angkor Wat since that time.
During the
midst of the Vietnam War, Chief of State Norodom
Sihanouk hosted Jacqueline Kennedy in Cambodia to
fulfill her "lifelong dream of seeing Angkor Wat."[15]
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.[16]
Architecture
Site and plan
General plan of
Angkor Wat with central structure in the middle
Detailed plan
of the central structure
Angkor Wat,
located at 13°24′45″N
103°52′0″E, is a unique combination of the temple mountain, the standard design for the
empire's state temples, the later plan of concentric galleries, and influences from Orissa and the Chola
of Tamil
Nadu, India. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru,
the home of the gods: the central quincunx of
towers symbolises the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat the
surrounding mountain ranges and ocean.[17]
Access to the upper areas of the temple was progressively more exclusive, with
the laity being admitted only to the lowest level.[18]
Unlike most
Khmer temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west rather than the east. This
has led many (including Glaize and George
Coedès) to conclude that Suryavarman intended it to serve as his funerary
temple.[19]
Further evidence for this view is provided by the bas-reliefs, which proceed in a counter-clockwise direction—prasavya in
Hindu terminology—as this is the reverse of the normal order. Rituals take
place in reverse order during Brahminic funeral services.[10]
The archaeologist Charles Higham also describes a
container which may have been a funerary jar which was recovered from the
central tower.[20]
It has been nominated by some as the greatest expenditure of energy on the
disposal of a corpse.[21]
Freeman and Jacques, however, note that several other temples of Angkor depart
from the typical eastern orientation, and suggest that Angkor Wat's alignment
was due to its dedication to Vishnu, who was associated with the west.[17]
A further
interpretation of Angkor Wat has been proposed by Eleanor
Mannikka. Drawing on the temple's alignment and dimensions, and on the
content and arrangement of the bas-reliefs, she argues that the structure
represents a claimed new era of peace under King Suryavarman
II: "as the measurements of solar and lunar time cycles were built
into the sacred space of Angkor Wat, this divine mandate to rule was anchored
to consecrated chambers and corridors meant to perpetuate the king's power and
to honor and placate the deities manifest in the heavens above."[22][23]
Mannikka's suggestions have been received with a mixture of interest and
scepticism in academic circles.[20]
She distances herself from the speculations of others, such as Graham
Hancock, that Angkor Wat is part of a representation of the constellation Draco.[24]
Style
Upper gallery
at Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat is
the prime example of the classical style of Khmer architecture—the Angkor Wat style—to which it
has given its name. By the 12th century Khmer architects had become skilled and
confident in the use of sandstone (rather than brick or laterite) as
the main building material. Most of the visible areas are of sandstone blocks,
while laterite was used for the outer wall and for hidden structural parts. The
binding agent used to join the blocks is yet to be identified, although natural
resins or slaked lime
have been suggested.[25]
Angkor Wat has
drawn praise above all for the harmony of its design, which has been compared
to the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.
According to Maurice Glaize, a mid-20th-century conservator of
Angkor, the temple "attains a classic perfection by the restrained
monumentality of its finely balanced elements and the precise arrangement of
its proportions. It is a work of power, unity and style."[26]
Architecturally,
the elements characteristic of the style include: the ogival, redented
towers shaped like lotus buds; half-galleries to broaden passageways; axial
galleries connecting enclosures; and the cruciform terraces which appear along
the main axis of the temple. Typical decorative elements are devatas (or apsaras), bas-reliefs,
and on pediments
extensive garlands and narrative scenes. The statuary of Angkor Wat is
considered conservative, being more static and less graceful than earlier work.[27]
Other elements of the design have been destroyed by looting and the passage of
time, including gilded
stucco on the
towers, gilding on some figures on the bas-reliefs, and wooden ceiling panels
and doors.[28]
The Angkor Wat
style was followed by that of the Bayon period, in which quality was often sacrificed to
quantity.[29]
Other temples in the style are Banteay
Samré, Thommanon,
Chao
Say Tevoda and the early temples of Preah Pithu
at Angkor;
outside Angkor, Beng Mealea and parts of Phanom Rung and Phimai.
Features
Aerial view of
Angkor Wat
Outer enclosure
The outer wall,
1024 by 802 m and 4.5 m high, is surrounded by a 30 m apron of open ground and
a moat 190 m wide. Access to the temple is by an earth bank to the east and a
sandstone causeway to the west; the latter, the main entrance, is a later
addition, possibly replacing a wooden bridge.[30]
There are gopuras at each of the cardinal
points; the western is by far the largest and has three ruined towers. Glaize
notes that this gopura both hides and echoes the form of the temple proper.[31]
Under the southern tower is a statue of Vishnu, known as Ta
Reach, which may originally have occupied the temple's central shrine.[30]
Galleries run between the towers and as far as two further entrances on either
side of the gopura often referred to as "elephant gates", as they are
large enough to admit those animals. These galleries have square pillars on the
outer (west) side and a closed wall on the inner (east) side. The ceiling
between the pillars is decorated with lotus
rosettes; the west face of the wall with dancing figures; and the east face of
the wall with balustered windows, dancing male figures on prancing animals, and
devatas, including (south of the entrance)
the only one in the temple to be showing her teeth.
The outer wall
encloses a space of 820,000 square metres (203 acres), which besides the temple
proper was originally occupied by the city and, to the north of the temple, the
royal palace. Like all secular buildings of Angkor, these were built of
perishable materials rather than of stone, so nothing remains of them except
the outlines of some of the streets.[32]
Most of the area is now covered by forest. A 350 m causeway connects the western
gopura to the temple proper, with naga balustrades and six sets of steps
leading down to the city on either side. Each side also features a library with entrances at each cardinal
point, in front of the third set of stairs from the entrance, and a pond
between the library and the temple itself. The ponds are later additions to the
design, as is the cruciform terrace guarded by lions connecting the causeway to
the central structure.[32]
Central structure
Miniature model
of the central structure of Angkor Wat. In the foreground the cruciform terrace
which lies in front of the central structure.
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. Mannikka interprets these galleries as being
dedicated to the king, Brahma, the moon, and Vishnu.[5]
Each gallery has a gopura
at each of the points, and the two inner galleries each have towers at their
corners, forming a quincunx with the central tower. Because
the temple faces west, the features are all set back towards the east, leaving
more space to be filled in each enclosure and gallery on the west side; for the
same reason the west-facing steps are shallower than those on the other sides.
The outer
gallery measures 187 by 215 m, with pavilions rather than towers at the
corners. The gallery is open to the outside of the temple, with columned
half-galleries extending and buttressing the structure. Connecting the outer
gallery to the second enclosure on the west side is a cruciform cloister called
Preah Poan (the "Hall of a Thousand Gods"). Buddha
images were left in the cloister by pilgrims over the centuries, although most
have now been removed. This area has many inscriptions relating the good deeds
of pilgrims, most written in Khmer
but others in Burmese and Japanese. The four small courtyards
marked out by the cloister may originally have been filled with water.[33]
North and south of the cloister are libraries.
Beyond, the
second and inner galleries are connected to each other and to two flanking
libraries by another cruciform terrace, again a later addition. From the second
level upwards, devatas abound on the walls, singly or in
groups of up to four. The second-level enclosure is 100 by 115 m, and may
originally have been flooded to represent the ocean around Mount Meru.[34]
Three sets of steps on each side lead up to the corner towers and gopuras of
the inner gallery. The very steep stairways represent the difficulty of
ascending to the kingdom of the gods.[35] This
inner gallery, called the Bakan, is a 60 m square with axial galleries
connecting each gopura with the central shrine, and subsidiary shrines located
below the corner towers. The roofings of the galleries are decorated with the
motif of the body of a snake ending in the heads of lions or garudas. Carved lintels and pediments decorate the
entrances to the galleries and to the shrines. The tower above the central
shrine rises 43 m to a height of 65 m above the ground; unlike those of
previous temple mountains, the central tower is raised above the surrounding
four.[36]
The shrine itself, originally occupied by a statue of Vishnu and open on each
side, was walled in when the temple was converted to Theravada Buddhism, the new walls featuring
standing Buddhas. In 1934, the conservator George Trouvé excavated the pit
beneath the central shrine: filled with sand and water it had already been
robbed of its treasure, but he did find a sacred foundation deposit of gold leaf
two metres above ground level.[37]
Decoration
Devatas are
characteristic of the Angkor Wat style.
The bas-relief
of the Churning of the Sea of Milk shows Vishnu in the
centre, his turtle Avatar
Kurma below, asuras and devas
to left and right, and apsaras and Indra above.
Integrated with
the architecture of the building, and one of the causes for its fame is Angkor
Wat's extensive decoration, which predominantly takes the form of bas-relief
friezes. The inner walls of the outer gallery bear a series of large-scale
scenes mainly depicting episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and
the Mahabharata.
Higham has called these, "the greatest known linear arrangement of stone
carving".[38] From
the north-west corner anti-clockwise, the western gallery shows the Battle of Lanka
(from the Ramayana, in which Rama defeats Ravana) and the Battle
of Kurukshetra (from the Mahabharata, showing the mutual annihilation of
the Kaurava
and Pandava
clans). On the southern gallery follow the only historical scene, a procession
of Suryavarman
II, then the 32 hells
and 37 heavens
of Hindu mythology.
On the eastern
gallery is one of the most celebrated scenes, the Churning of the Sea of
Milk, showing 92[39] asuras and 88 devas
using the serpent Vasuki
to churn the sea under Vishnu's direction (Mannikka counts only 91 asuras, and
explains the asymmetrical numbers as representing the number of days from the winter
solstice to the spring equinox, and from the equinox to the summer solstice).[40] It
is followed by Vishnu defeating asuras (a 16th-century addition). The northern gallery shows
Krishna's victory over Bana (where according to Glaize, "The workmanship is at
its worst"[41]) and
a battle between the Hindu gods and asuras. The north-west and south-west
corner pavilions both feature much smaller-scale scenes, some unidentified but
most from the Ramayana or the life of Krishna.
Construction techniques
The stones, as
smooth as polished marble, were laid without mortar with very tight joints that
were sometimes hard to find. The blocks were held together by mortise
and tenon joints in some cases, while in others they used dovetails and
gravity. The blocks were presumably put in place by a combination of elephants,
coir ropes, pulleys
and bamboo scaffolding. Henri Mouhot noted that most of the blocks had holes
2.5 cm in diameter and 3 cm deep, with more holes on the larger
blocks. Some scholars have suggested that these were used to join them together
with iron rods, but others claim they were used to hold temporary pegs to help
manoeuvre them into place.
The monument
was made out of enormous amounts of sandstone, as much as Khafre's pyramid in
Egypt (over 5 million tons). This sandstone had to be transported from
Mount Kulen, a quarry approximately 25 miles (40 km) to the northeast. The
stone was presumably transported by raft along the Siem Reap river. This would
have to have been done with care to avoid overturning the rafts with such a
large amount of weight. One modern engineer estimated it would take 300 years
to complete Angkor Wat today.[42]
Yet the monument was begun soon after Suryavarman came to the throne and was
finished shortly after his death, no more than 40 years.
Virtually all
of its surfaces, columns, lintels even roofs are carved. There are miles of
reliefs illustrating scenes from Indian
literature including unicorns, griffins, winged dragons pulling chariots as
well as warriors following an elephant-mounted leader and celestial dancing
girls with elaborate hair styles. The gallery wall alone is decorated with
almost 1,000 square metres of bas reliefs. Holes on some of the Angkor walls
indicate that they may have been decorated with bronze sheets. These were
highly prized in ancient times and were a prime target for robbers. While
excavating Khajuraho, Alex Evans, a stonemason and sculptor, recreated a stone
sculpture under 4 feet (1.2 m), this took about 60 days to carve.[43]
Roger Hopkins and Mark Lehner also conducted experiments to quarry limestone
which took 12 quarrymen 22 days to quarry about 400 tons of stone.[44] The
labour force to quarry, transport, carve and install so much sandstone must
have run into the thousands including many highly skilled artisans. The skills
required to carve these sculptures were developed hundreds of years earlier, as
demonstrated by some artifacts that have been dated to the seventh century,
before the Khmer came to power.[21][42]...
Angkor Wat
viewed from across the moat
Angkor Wat today
World Monuments Fund video on conservation of
Angkor Wat
The Archaeological Survey of India
carried out restoration work on the temple between 1986 and 1992.[45]
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 and has encouraged the Cambodian government to
protect the site.[46] 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.[47]
Other work involves the repair of collapsed sections of the structure, and
prevention of further collapse: the west facade of the upper level, for
example, has been buttressed by scaffolding since 2002,[48]
while a Japanese team completed restoration of the north library of the outer
enclosure in 2005.[49] World Monuments Fund began work on the
Churning of the Sea of Milk Gallery in 2008.
Angkor Wat has
become a major tourist destination. In 2004 and 2005, government figures
suggest that, respectively, 561,000 and 677,000 foreign visitors arrived in
Siem Reap province, approximately 50% of all foreign tourists in Cambodia for
both years.[50]
The site has been managed by the private SOKIMEX group
since 1990, which rented it from the Cambodian government. The influx of
tourists has so far caused relatively little damage, other than some graffiti; ropes
and wooden steps have been introduced to protect the bas-reliefs and floors,
respectively. Tourism has also provided some additional funds for
maintenance—as of 2000 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.[51]
At the ASEAN Tourism Forum
2012, both parties have agreed Borobudur and Angkor Wat to become sister sites and the
provinces will become sister provinces. Two Indonesian airlines are considering
the opportunity to open a direct flight from Yogyakarta,
Indonesia
to Siem Reap.[52]