If we look from the north at the group of temples with which we have already met, then the new object of our attention - the Phimeanakas Temple, is located in the foreground of the photograph, immediately behind its large pool. And further behind him, right along the course, is our old friend - the Baphuon temple, on the left - the Bayon temple, and a little further, right on the mountain - Phnom Bakheng, and even further, on the left - our firstborn Angkor Wat is noticeable.
Determining the location of the new temple on a map-scheme, which has the usual orientation of the cardinal points: above - north, below - south, we can see here a more detailed picture of its surroundings.
The laterite walls, enclosing the territory of the royal palace on 4 sides, measuring 250 x 600 m, reach a height of 5 m. Moreover, one powerful inner wall outlining this rectangle is duplicated by the second, separated from each other by a water moat about 25 m wide. Within the walls, on the north and south sides, there are 2 passages to the inside, to the temple.
All 4 sandstone gopuras on the north and south sides of the fence are exactly the same, but the western gopura of the north side is the best preserved. It is a square central tower with a through passage and two side corridors covered with cylindrical vaults. The gopur opens into the courtyard with 2 windows, and the level of its floor quite accurately corresponds to the level at the base of the Pyramid of Phimeanakas, which is 1.2 meters above the surface of the earth behind the palace fence.
The central gopura of the royal palace, located on the eastern side of the fence and being a continuation of the single ensemble of cascading stairs of the Elephant Terrace, is much larger than the 4 side gopura of the northern and southern fences of the palace. It has a triple entrance and is topped by a central sandstone tower. The silhouette of the gopura is designed in the same style as the other 4.
Promotional video:
In the northeastern corner of the palace there is a large reservoir 45 x 125 m. The works undertaken for its preservation revealed 13 rows of perfectly worked sandstone steps, 7 of which were profiled, and 6 of the lower ones had a smooth surface. All of them went to a depth of 5.3 m. There is also a second pool nearby, which is smaller, 20 x 40 m, with a water depth of 4.5 m.
Now - about the pyramid itself.
In the heart of the walled site of the former royal palace is the Phimeanakas Temple. Khmer phimien akah consists of the borrowed Sanskrit words "vimana" (Khmer. [Pʰimiən] or [vimiən], and "akasha" (Khmer. [ʔaːkaːh]. And translated from Sanskrit, vimana) can mean both "palace" and "chariot "Suffice it to recall the flying chariot Pushpaka of the god Kubera, which is described as a golden palace with gardens and fountains. Akasha means" sky "or" space. "Thus, Phimeanakas can be both a" heavenly palace "and a" heavenly chariot."
It is believed that the temple was built at the end of the 10th century during the reign of Rajendravarman II (944-967), and then was rebuilt by Suryavarman II - but already as a Hindu temple. True, some contradiction to this statement is the fact that no traces of residential premises were found here.
Phimeanakas is a rectangular three-tiered pyramid made of laterite. At the base, its dimensions are 28 m in the direction from south to north and 35 m in the direction from west to east. Its upper tier, measuring 23 x 30 m, rises 12 m above the ground level. Hence, the frontal axial staircase has an angle of inclination of about 50 °, and the angle of inclination of the stairway of the other three is more than 60 °.
Along the very edge of the upper terrace is the outer wall of the gallery, open on both sides by windows with stone balusters, measuring about 1 m in width and 2 m in height. Galleries converge at corners to small pavilions, and towering entrance gopuras divide each of them into two symmetrical wings. The design of the vaults is interesting, which do not just consist of 2 symmetrical halves. Instead, arched stones are installed on top, the outer surface of which depicts tiles.
On the slabs of the upper terrace, traces of the laterite foundation originally built on this site, defining the outlines of the rectangular structure, are discernible. Later, a cruciform sanctuary was built from laterite and sandstone with four entrance vestibules open to all cardinal directions, the upper part of which was completely destroyed. This sanctuary is completely out of harmony with the Pyramid of Phimeanakas and is believed to be the result of restructuring.
As some of the results, it can be noted:
- the temple is a multistage truncated pyramid, strictly oriented to the cardinal points;
- the center line drawn through the middle of the southern and northern stairs, almost exactly passes through the center of the Baphuon temple - from north to south;
- on the upper tiered platform of the temple pyramid, there may have been a large prang tower;
- the temple has neither a pronounced entrance, nor a road lined with slabs or raised above the earth's surface, nor a characteristic cruciform platform;
- the territory of the temple is surrounded by 2 walls of 5 meters height, in which 4 passages are made - 2 each from the northern and southern sides of the fence;
- the pyramid temple is adjacent to 2 water pools; in addition, a 25-meter wide moat separating the inner and outer walls of the fence is also filled with water;
- it is possible that the temple is somehow connected with the Elephants 'terrace: the eastern wall of its fence, together with its central gopura, is also the back wall of the Elephants' terrace;
- The Phimeanakas temple itself is part of the Angkor Thom temple complex.