Cambodia 2007, Angkor Wat

2007-1-11 and 13

The west entrance causeway

We had arranged with the driver who took us to the guest house from the airport to drive us to various tourist spots in Seam Reap. After taking a long nap, we left the guest house at 14:30. Our destiny was Angkor Wat. It was built during the reign of Suryavarman II, in the first half of the 12^th century. It was surrounded by 190m wide moat with an outside dimension of 1.5x 1.3 km. There was causeway crossing the moat from the west and the east. The west entrance was more popular and impressive. The causeway was surfaced with laterite and sand stones, and was  guarded by seven headed naga and lions. The east entrance only had low gate and a dirt causeway with no special structure except a low stone fence.

The entrance gopura

Halfway after crossing the west causeway was a cruciform platform which descended to the water. The causeway ended on a courtyard with some palm trees and benches made up with seven-headed naga. On the other side was the square outer enclosure wall surrounding the temple complex. The wall had a dimension of 800x1000m, and the side facing the causeway had roof on top, and the roof were supported by a row of square pillars and the whole structure looked like gallery. At the centre of the wall were three tower gates. This kind of tower gate was very common in Angkor and was call gopura. The top of the tower was originally conical in shape, but it was damaged during wars in ancient time, and was now appeared to be flat. These three gopura and the wall were the first structure people seen when entering Angkor Wat from the west. 

The causeway in the inner courtyard

The library beside the causeway

The gopura was cruciform with portico on both its outer and inner side. We enter the gopura by climbing some steps into its portico and entered into the inner courtyard. And immediately we saw the main temple complex including three of its five main towers at a distant. There was another 300m long and 10m wide elevated stone causeway connecting the entrance gopura to the main temple complex. The balustrades on both side of the causeway were in the form of the body of naga.Along the causeway, there were many cruciform platform with stairways leading to the ground. Halfway before we got to the temple, there was a small stone buildings on both sides of the causeway. It was generally referred as the library in the guide book. It was probably used by visitors to pray before they entered the temple. Similar buildings were also found in other temples complex. Further on we saw two ponds, and the guide book said that the temple was best distant  viewed from the bank of the ponds. We did not read the book and missed this. Later I found on the internet that one could take a good photo of the temple at this location by showing its reflection on the pond. The causeway terminated at the entrance of the main temple.

The gallery

The main temple complex was built on three level terraces. The first level had a dimension of 180x250 m and was known as the gallery of bas-relief. The second level was the gallery of meditation, and the third level represented the heaven and could be reached only by the king, his royalty and the high priest, and it had a large tower on each corner, and a main tower at the centre. The main structure on the first level was a square corridor enclosing the whole complex and was called the gallery. There were three cruciform gates at the middle of the west gallery and the east gallery. And there was only one similar gate at the north and the south gallery. There are also gate  at each of the four corner of the complex with two set of portico and stairs descending to the ground.

The two tier roof over the gallery

The roof of the gallery was corbeled stone supported by stone columns on the outside, and stone walls on the inside. In some section of the gallery, the roof had two tiers and was supported by another rows of columns. The two rows of columns had only a narrow separation. Only under one roof that was a ceiling. The cross section of the roof covering the gallery had two shapes: the inverted V and the inverted U. 

Bas-reliefs in the gallery

The walls of the gallery were filled with beautiful and detailed bas reliefs depicting the battle field, the story in Hindu mythology, and the cruelty of life in hell. The reliefs depicted many people fighting in the battle field, in processions and in many other actions, many of them looked similar but in closer look they have different facial expressions and postures. The artists managed to squeeze many people in various acts of fighting in a battle field. There were also many reliefs on the pediments. The artists seemed aware that their art works would be subject to harsh weather, and many of them were carved in mid to high reliefs.

Churning the sea of milk

Each wall was divided into two sections by the gate in its middle, and the theme in each section was different. Therefore, in total there were 8 sections each depicting a different theme.

West wall and north of its gate - depicted the Hindu myth of Ramayana.

West wall and south of its gate - depicted the Hindu epic of Mahabaratta.

South wall and west of its gate - depicted the life history of King Suryavarman II, and his court and the major events happened during his reign.

South wall and east of its gate - depicted the life in heaven and hell.

East wall and south of its gate - depicted the Hindu myth "Churning the Sea of Milk".

East wall and north of its gate - depicted the Hindu epic "Victory of Vishnu over Demons".

North wall and east of its gate - depicted the Hindu myth "Victory of Lord Vishnu over Demon King Bana". The relief was carved under the reign of King Ang Chan.

Gallery and tower on the second level

Another three separate corridor also with two tiers roof ran from the three gates in the west gallery in the west-east direction to the second level of the terrace. They formed a crucified corridors with another corridor which ran in north-south direction. These four corridors enclosed four basins on the west side of the first level terrace. The same lay out of galleries and gates was extended from the first level terrace into the second level. But the galleries were simply corridors enclosed by walls on both sides and there was no more column supporting the roof of the gallery. Many large windows were opened on the wall, and stone balustrades were installed in the window. I assumed that the gallery was where people meditated. Furthermore, the middle gates in the east gallery had been reduced from three to one.

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The façade of the gopura and at its walls were filled with many beautiful and large breast carvings of apsara. They were mostly standing gracefully in groups and holding each others. They wore tall and fancy head dress. There were about 1800 of them in Ankor Wat, and they could be seen in all temples in the area. One of them found on this gopura was unique. She was showing her teeth in her smile. The carving showed that the skirt was probably made of lighter material, and it hanged closely to the body and revealed clearly the shape of the leg. Many of them no longer wore the jewelry belt, but they still had the wide band ribbon tucked on the top of their skirt. Many of them hanged a large pendants on their necklace.

The bright lower portion of the panel

We were fascinated by the bas reliefs on the wall in the gallery, and ended up spending all our time looking at them. It was late in the afternoon and the gallery was facing west, sun light shined directly at the lower portion of the 2m high gallery. The dark top and bright bottom made it difficult to see the whole things on the wall. Therefore, it would be better to see them at noon. There were colours on some sections of the relifs. It was done by Buddhist monks who occupied the temple and turned it into their monastery. 

As the day was getting darker, we took a quick tour of this gallery. When we left, we  were the last one to leave the temple. We ended the day by having dinner in a restaurant own by Taiwanese. The food and décor were good.

Thousand Buddha hall

We had not seen the rest of the temple other than the bas relief on our first visit, and therefore, we came back again on the third day (2007-1-13,) after seeing the Banteay Srei Temple. This time we entered by the East entrance. We passed a wooded area and reached the east side of the inner courtyard. After passing the stairs on the entrance, we were in the east gallery, and then we climbed up another stair to the second level terrace. We visit the Thousand Buddha Hall, and was disappointed that there were not many of them, and many were damaged by deliberated acts. 

The corner tower on the top level

There were three steep stairs going to each side of the third level terrace. And the total was twelves. And again the same lay out of the gallery and gates was extended to this highest level of terrace. The four towers at the four corners on this terrace were linked by galleries to the tallest and the largest main tower in the centre. And this layout formed another four basins on this terrace. 

The main tower

We were stunned by the massive central temple structure rising from the narrow courtyard. The third level terrace was only 11m high, but the stair was very steep and I felt like climbing a tall mountain. The steep stair reminded me of the similar stairs found in Inca temples. Many visitors dared not take the challenge of going up the stair. There were three stairs reaching each side of the third level terrace. Among the twelves stairs, there was only one where a handrail had been installed after a tragic accident. The third terrace offered a commanding view of the temple below and beyond and there were many beautiful apsaras in these areas.

The cruciform corridore and the basin

The bas-reliefs depicted only the Hindu myth and the celebration of victories in many battles. It did not show anything about the construction of the temple. It must be a difficult task to pile up all those big rocks into steep and tall towers, and furthermore, the worker had to carve out beautiful arts object on its surface.

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