Along the Royal Roads To Angkor Thom (5)

Then we visit Angkor Thom ....

Wow... Leaving Angkor Wat from its western exit and heading north,we arrived at Angkor Thom's south gate....

You can see statues of devatas on left side and giants on right side ,holding a huge naga line.

Jayavarman VII built the network of royal roads, linked them all to Angkor Thom, the new capital of the empire,which he built from the end of the twelfth to the beginning of the thirteenth century. The city was three kilometers on a side and was surrounded by a moat more than one hundred meters wide.


Five huge gates led into the city from north,east ,south and west.The ruins of many structures are to be found within the city:Bayon temple,the Elephant terrace and manies other buildings from his time,as well as those from the tenth century.

Jayavarman VII was the first of the Angkor kings to be the follower of Buddhism,and he built the Bayon Temple in the center of the city as a symbol of Mount Sumeru, the center of the world in Buddhist temple dedicated to spreading compassion through the "three thousand worlds" of the universe.

The City of the Gods: Angkor Wat (4)

Then we visit Angkor Wat...one from seven wonder places in the world

Angkor Wat is a symbol of modern Cambodia, but also of the ancient Angkor Empire, with its vast network of roads weaving throughout all Indochina.Angor Wat,built in the early part of the twelfth century by the Angkor ruler Suryavarman II ,is a Hindu temple/It was constructed as a royal tomb,and its central sanctuary housed and image of Shiva,the god with whom the king was said to be one.Three concentric galleries enclose the central sanctuary,rising as one approaches the center of the complex.

The stairway leading up to the third and innermost gallery is so steep as to be treacherous and the design of the whole seems almost intended to rebuff the devotee.

There are towers at each of the four corners of the innermost gallery and the taller central sanctuary rises in their center, the peak of Mount Meru,the very center of the world. It was here,in this sacred space, that the secret ceremony uniting the king and the god was conducted.Carvings of devatas,frmale deities,appear throughout the temple,and the galleries display scenes from the ancient Indian epic the Mahabharata ,as well as other Hindu myths, heightening the drama of ths holy citadel.

 

Along the Royal Roads to Angkor(3)

The "library" on the side of Bantaisri ....

You can see around almost temples will have basin,this showed how clever about architetual science was at that time. Humid from basin can strick sandstone like cement which touch up each others one by one without any screwing but buildings are still maintain till present. 

Next we will visit Angkor Wat....