Angkor, Cambodia: description, photos and reviews

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

The Kingdom of Cambodia is a country located in the south of the Indochina peninsula. It is a constitutional monarchy with the head of the king. The legislative body is the Parliament, which consists of two chambers. Its capital is Phnom Penh, and its main attraction is Angkor Wat (Cambodia). The photo below shows him at sunset.

A little about the country and its population

A small state is lost in the green jungle. It arose in the 600s AD. Nature is still virginally beautiful and surprises the traveler with amazing plants of the wet savannah and unusual animals. In the center is Tonle Sap Lake. Mountains surround it on three sides. And the fourth opens with a view of the Gulf of Thailand. Rivers flow through the valley: the Mekong, the main artery of the country, and the Tonle Sap. This amazing stream periodically changes its direction. A river can flow into or out of a lake. The country's population is the Khmer people (approximately 14 million), who are 95% Buddhist. For them there are more than 4 thousand temples. The language used in everyday life is Khmer, the elderlythey speak French, young people study English and Chinese. The climate is humid and hot. The best months to visit are from late October to April, when there is a dry winter with temperatures ranging from +22°C to +26°C. But humidity stays at 93% all year round.

Sights of the country

The tourism business in the country is still poorly developed. The city of Siem Reap is known for its pagodas, temples and wats: wat Bo (wall paintings), Preah Angcherk and Preah Angchorm pagoda (very revered by the locals. There are two Buddha statues here), Yatep - local spirits live here that protect the city. The city of Sihanoukville is distinguished by beautiful beaches and diving centers. But still, the main thing that Cambodia is proud of is the Angkor temple complex. Everything fades before him, like the stars and the moon before the light of the sun. It is located near the city of Siemrap. In all its grandeur, the sights of Angkor are located in the center of the state of Cambodia.

The temple complex can almost be considered a city. This iconic building is the largest in the world. Here is a panorama of Angkor (Cambodia, photo below), now cleared from the jungle.

In addition, this historical reserve has a temple-mountain Bayon. This is also a visited and very interesting temple. It offers a magnificent view of Angkor from above. The jungle dominates Ta Prohm and is not going to leave it yet. There are more modest but no less remarkable temples: Baksey Chhamkorg, Thama Bai Kaek and Prasat Bay.

UNESCO World Treasure

Giant, the largest - it's all about Angkor. Cambodia a thousand years ago very quickly, in just 30–40 years, built and also decorated a temple for Hindus, worshipers of the god Vishnu. This was done at the behest of King Suryavarman II. He was a warrior who spent his time not in fun, but in caring for the strengthening and centralization of the state. But he remained in history as the creator of the Angkor temple. Cambodia has committed all its forces to its design and construction.

Design

By the time Angkor was created, Indian culture had existed for at least 4–4.5 millennia. The knowledge of Indian astronomers was extremely high. It can be assumed that they were attracted to create the layout of the Hindu temple of Angkor. Cambodia would hardly have been able to do this on its own. Moreover, the temple was dedicated to the deity Vishnu - the guardian of the universe, the protector from evil, the link between people and the Universe.

At the end of the 20th century, the British historian D. Grisby concluded that the main structures in Angkor are a projection of the constellation Draco onto the earth. He was prompted to look for such a relationship by an inscription on an excavated 12th-century stele, which reported that their country was similar to the sky. Such a connection is indicated by another inscription of an earlier time, which says that the stones of Angkor are associated with the movement of the stars in the sky. This has given rise to numerous modern studies and discussions in the world of historians and archaeologists. They don't stop today.

Construction

In those daysthere was a lot of sandstone in the kingdom of Cambodia. The temple complex of Angkor was built from it. The construction took about five million tons of material. It was rafted down the Siemrap River. All stones are very smooth, as if they were polished. No mortar was used to fasten them, and they are held only by their own weight. They match one another so perfectly that the blade of a thin knife cannot pass between them. It is believed that elephants were used in the construction. Absolutely all surfaces are covered with kilometers of carving. These are scenes from Ramayana and Mahabharata, unicorns and dragons, warriors, griffins, charming dedavasis (dancers). From all of the above, it follows that there were very skilled craftsmen who built Angkor. Cambodia, by all accounts, had centuries of experience in similar construction.

Architecture

It was a period of maturity in the development of sophisticated architecture with perfect harmony of all its parts. As in many ancient civilizations, the sanctuary was the home of the gods. Only the priestly class and kings gathered in it, and it was also intended for the burial of rulers. Angkor Wat, a temple complex in Cambodia, is a rectangle with dimensions of 1.5 x 1.3 thousand meters and an area of two km². The area of the Vatican is almost three times smaller. Along the entire perimeter there is a moat filled with water, 190 m wide. A platform is installed in the center of the courtyard, which is enclosed by a wall. A temple was built on it. Nowhere has a capsule been found that bears its original name or date of commencement of construction. The temple of Angkor Wat (Cambodia) consists of three buildings,having a common center. It has five lotus-shaped towers. The tallest central tower rises 65 m from the ground. The main entrance to it leads from the west. The road to it, made of sandstone blocks, is surrounded by low parapets, on which sculptures of snakes with seven heads are located.

Today, the entrance to the gopuram (the gate tower above the entrance) is through a sacred place under the south tower. It has a huge figure of Vishnu with 8 arms. It fills all space.

The sculptural decoration is organically connected with the entire composition of the temple. On the first tier, the most remarkable are eight huge images, the area of which is 1.2 thousand square meters. m. The walls of the 2nd tier are decorated with bas-reliefs of apsaras (celestial maidens). There are two thousand of them. From the second level you can see the entire courtyard. Stone steps lead to the third level, to huge conical towers. The highest is the center of the universe. All the towers represent, as the ancient Khmers understood it, the abode of the gods Mount Meru. In the tallest, a recumbent figure of Buddha is still preserved, although the temple was originally dedicated to Vishnu.

Historical Preserve

The temples of Angkor in Cambodia are not limited to the colossal and mysterious Angor Wat. The city of Angkor itself was a "Capital City" with a population of over 1,000,000 people who lived in wooden houses that rotted in the high humidity. Its ruins are located about five kilometers from the Angkor Wat complex. There are preserved temples that were built fromsandstone and tuff: elephant terrace, Ta Prohm, Angor Thom (UNESCO heritage site), Preah Kan (translated as "sacred sword"), Ta Prohm and Bayon Temple. It has 54 sky-high towers, all of which are decorated with Buddha images.

Angor Thom ("Great Capital") and Bayon Temple

It was the capital under the ruler Jayavarman VII. He adopted the philosophy of Buddha and built a square city in honor of him with a fantastic area of 900 hectares. It is divided by roads into 4 equal parts. The remains of stone buildings sprouted by the jungle. In the center stands the Bayon Temple.

Its size is smaller than other sights of Cambodia, but if you get closer to it, it strikes with grandeur. Bayon has three levels. The first one depicts scenes from peaceful life and battles. On the second, which is much better preserved, the tourist finds himself in a labyrinth of galleries with low ceilings. Faces are carved on each of the fifty towers, which, depending on the lighting, can look either good or evil. These ruins look majestic, especially when viewed from the third level.

Ta-Prohm

This is a temple-monastery, which was called Rajahavira ("royal monastery") with a complex layout. Its territory is heavily overgrown with trees with powerful trunks and branches. Its clearing began in 1920. But the jungle does not want to part with him. This Buddhist temple is very romantic, as some of the ruins and tropical trees are deliberately left in it. It makes an indelible impression on tourists. Within the territory ofof the monastery, large silk trees and strangler trees grow among the ring structures.

If the seed remains in the gap of the masonry, then it gradually grows and breaks the wall with its roots and heavy trunk. Initially, they become the frame of the building, but when they die, they destroy it. The temple itself consists of three galleries with one center. It is surrounded by a moat. Entrances through gopuras (entrance towers) are located on the four cardinal points. The stele in the monastery describes its we alth (tons of gold dishes, silk beds), and also attributes to the king the creation of hundreds of statues of gods, decorative towers, almost half a thousand stone dwellings, as well as the presence of hospitals in the kingdom. All remaining walls are, of course, covered with exquisite carvings. The place where the episode of the film "Lara Croft - Tomb Raider" with Angelina Jolie was filmed is very popular with tourists. On one of the pillars, red paint has been preserved. As the guides say, human blood was added to it. In fact, iron oxides were added to it, which are very resistant to fading. The stegosaurus carved on one of the medallions is something inexplicable in Ta Prohma.

Angkor, Cambodia: how to get there

By air

There are no direct flights from Russia to Cambodia. There is an international airport near the city of Siem Reap. Liners arrive in it through China (eastern and southern airlines), Korea (Seoul), Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand (Bangkok, Pattaya). The most expensive, but also the most popular flight is Bangkok-Siem Reap. It's easier to fly to Bangkok, and thentake a flight via Kuala Lumpur or to Phnom Penh. From the capital of Cambodia, you can then go by taxi or by bus. The airport is 7 km from Siem Reap, and the hotel can be reached without complications. And if a room is booked, the tourist will be met for free and taken to the hotel.

Waterway

Siem Reap can be reached by speedboat from Phnom Penh if time and money permit. Tickets are sold at the hotel reception or travel agencies. Traveling along the lake and the river in six hours will allow you to get acquainted with the life of the local population.

Bus

From neighboring Asian countries (Thailand, Vietnam), as well as from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap can be reached by bus. There are a lot of flights on offer. The cheapest are Cambodian. The bus during the day is quite safe transport. Night trips are not recommended.

Angkor Cambodia Tours

Tour operators offer a trip to exotic Cambodia. For example, Moscow companies Level.travel, VAND, Coral Travel, as well as TEZ-tour. Tours are for three days and two nights.

Reviews of tourists about visiting Angkor

The spirit of millennia is felt in the temples of Angkor. Angkor Wat is well preserved. They say that on the highest tower there is a connection with space. The rulers seemed to be competing with each other who would put up a more beautiful temple. And the whole of Angkor became like the city of the gods. All reviews include many great photos. Angkor is surrounded by a special energy, and experienced travelers believe that it has no equal in the world. This country should be seen by everyone.