Angkor Wat near the city of Siem Reap in Cambodia is famous for the fact that lakes and relict trees are here side by side with ancient temples. More recently, it turned out that this unique archaeological complex has practically no analogues in size among the buildings of the past. This sensational discovery was made possible only thanks to modern technology.
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Pearl of Cambodia
The very word "Angkor" in translation from Khmer means "capital". The construction of the complex dates back to the period from the 9th to the 14th century AD. There are about 100 temples in total. Angkor Wat was the center of the ancient Khmer civilization that existed on the territory of modern Vietnam and China, and also spread west from Vietnam to the Bay of Bengal … The temple complex is dedicated to the god Vishnu, who fills the world with his energy, and also symbolizes the five-domed sacred mountain Meru, where the Supreme personality of the deity is attained.
According to sources, 12 thousand people worked on the construction of Angkor Wat, and the stone was used as much as for the pyramid of Pharaoh Khafre in Ancient Egypt. But it is not so much the grandeur of the structures that arouses admiration, as the art of ancient carvers. Thanks to their skill, each stone in the complex is covered with reliefs depicting historical and mythological subjects. Moreover, not a single plot is repeated.
In addition to the temples, the complex also includes the building of the university, in which 1000 mentors already taught in the 10th century.
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With each successive ruler, the complex grew with new buildings. Among them is Banteay Srei, made of red sandstone, which is called the "pink stone box" and the pearl of Angkor. There is a belief that a certain brahmana built it not with government donations, but with his own funds. Therefore, the building turned out to be small, but deeply imbued with the spirit of Hinduism … Over time, individual temples were connected by galleries, and decorated with towers at the corners.
The area of the entire complex is several hundred square kilometers, and this is the largest religious building in the world. Not only Hindu myths, but also Buddhist cults have found their embodiment here.
From vandals to tourists
Over its long history, Angkor has experienced both wars and riots. After the death of Jayavaraman VII, who spread Buddhism, the local population for the most part returned to Hinduism. And in 1351 and 1431 Angkor was captured by Siamese troops. The city was plundered and gradually fell into decay.
People left these places, the majestic temples hid the impenetrable jungle, and the Europeans discovered it for themselves only with the arrival of the French missionary Charles Emile Buyevo here. He made a detailed account of the find, but at first his message did not attract much attention. Only after the French traveler Henri Muo described more than a hundred amazing temples of Angkor in 1861, they began to show interest in the historical monument, and numerous expeditions began to equip to distant Cambodia …
During the civil war (1975-1979), the Khmer Rouge troops under the leadership of Pol Pot barbarously destroyed part of the temples of the complex. Due to the military situation, restoration work had to be stopped. The history of the Middle Ages repeated itself … The local population began to plunder the temples, and the jungle again stepped on the city … Only in 1992 Angkor Wat was taken under the protection of UNESCO. Since that time, tourists have poured into the country to admire the open-air museum.
Ghost buildings
Archaeological research has been carried out in the complex throughout the last century. Recently, technical innovations have come to the aid of archaeologists. So, thanks to the GPR, archaeologists were able to scan the area outside the ancient buildings. Traces of towers, fortifications and other structures were found, of which there are no visible traces today. For example, from the south to Angkor Wat there was a huge building, the purpose of which can only be guessed at. It is possible that she performed an economic function. Scientists have never seen anything like this before.
To detect "invisible" fragments of the complex, scientists from Cambodia and Australia used a special method of airborne laser scanning. Researchers suggest that many hundreds of years ago, temple buildings were much higher than they are now. After all, the complex has already gone through several dozen restorations, and not all buildings have come down to us in their original form. Most likely, the area of the complex was not at all 200 square kilometers, as previously thought, but all 3000!
We can only hope that it will be possible to keep intact at least those buildings that still remain, and that the current century will be more successful for this unique archaeological monument than all the previous ones …