캄보디아 와 베트남 여행-1

                                       

                                                                       

Angkor Wat 

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

 

Angkor Wat lies 5.5 km north of the modern town of Siem Reap, and a short distance south and slightly

east of the previous capital, which was centred on the 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 Vishnulok after the presiding deity. Work seems to have ended on the king's death, leaving some of

the bas-relief decoration unfinished. In 1177 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 14th or 15th century the temple was converted to Threvada 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.

 

One of the first Western visitors to the temple was Antonio da Magdalena, a Portugese 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". However, the temple was popularised in the West only in the

mid-19th century on the publication of Henri Mouhot's travel notes. The French explorer wrote of it:

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.

Mouhot, like other early Western visitors, was unable 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.

 

Angkor Wat required considerable restoration in the 20th century, mainly the removal of accumulated earth

and vegetation. 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.The temple has become a symbol of Cambodia, and is a source of great

national pride. A depiction of Angkor Wat has been a part of every Cambodian national flag since the

introduction of the first version circa 1863. 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.

 

앙코르왓

캄보디아 와 베트남 여행 041027-041102

Angkor Wat

Cambodia and Vietnam Travel 041027-041102

호수 건너 앙코르왓 전경

A complte view of Ankor Wat beyond the lake 

 

  

                                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

가슴을 치면 공명이 일어나는 석탑 내부

It is echoed as one beats one's chest in the hollow stone tower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the garden of Le Meridien Angkor Hotel 

  

  

 

 

  

 

앙코르왓 관광을 끝내고 호텔에서 술 한잔 하며 가이드의 설명 

A guide explains about travel schedule after seeing the sights of Angkor Wat.

 

Photos by Domonic