Category: survey
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Elephants Terrace
End of 12th century Jayavarman VII. The foundation platform of the royal audience hall, described by Chou Ta-Kuan in 1296 “In the counsel hall, the window frames are of gold: to the left and right are square pillars bearing forty or firty mirrors, below them are elephants”. “Here, on the central perron amidst the ringing…
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East Top
It was built during the reign of Jayavarman VIII in honor of a Brahmin scholar called Mangalartha, assimilated to Vishnu. It’s cruciform in plan and opens to east, while on the other cardinal points there are false doors. The sanctuary chamber sheltered two statues, one of Mangalartha and the other of his mother, whose pedestal…
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East Mebon
952 AD Rajendravarman II Hindu (Shiva). At the center of the Eastern Baray and so originally only accessible by boat. A temple mountain in brick and laterite but with a three meter high platform carrying five towers arranged in a quincunx rather than a central tiered pyramid. The large foundation stele describes the dedication to…
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Chau Say Tevoda
Beginning of 12th century Suryavarman II Hindu. Similar in style to Thommanon to the North, but in an advanced state of ruin. A raised causeway on three rows of piers links the temple via a cruciform terrace to the river. New Years Party, Chau Say Tevoda side Asian New Year’s eve has a different calendar…
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Thommanon
Beginning of 12th century Suryavarman II Hindu. Extensively restored in contrast to Chau Say Tevoda just to its South. A single ruined lateral wall, 45 by 60 meters, surrounded by a moat and divided by two gopuras encloses both a finely detailed central sanctuary set on a 2.5 meters high molded base and a single…
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Sacred Garden
UNESCO World Heritage Site Lumbini, Nepal, the Birthplace of Lord Buddha has been inscribed on the world heritage list. This heritage site is of exceptional universal value which deserves protection for the benefit of humanity. King Ashoka’s Pilar The Devil and the Saint The lady in pink represent the saint, the figure in black represent…
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Lumbini Development Trust Survey
Lumbini is a Nepali town right at the border with India and is the place where Lord Buddha was born and raced as a child in accordance with Emperor Ashoka’s pillar/edict found in the archaeological record. I arrived at Lumbini during the third mass COVID-19 wave in India and some of the Buddhist monasteries were…
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World Peace Pagoda
Lumbini, Nepal. This Peace Pagoda has been built by Nipponzan Nyohoji Buddhist order founded by Most Venerable Nichi Dattsu Fujii of Japan through contribution of devotees in Nepal and Japan. The construction of the peace pagoda all over the world was initiated by the Most Venerable Fujii Guruji after feeling the tragic scene of atomic…
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Bayon
End of 12th century Jayavarman VII Buddhist. At the center of the last city of Angkor and perhaps a microcosm of the kingdom with representations of all the major divinities – Buddhist to the south and east, and Hindu to the north and west. 200 large faces adorn the 54 towers signifying the omnipresence of…
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Bat Chum
953 AD Rajendravarman II Buddhist. The first known Buddhist temple. Three brick sanctuaries with the main architectural elements in sandstone on a common moulded laterite base. Inscriptions give details of dedications to three Buddhist divinities and reveal the architect of the Eastern Mebon as its patron and builder. More at “The Angkor Survey“.
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Baphuon
Middle of 11th century Udayadityavarman II Hindu (Shiva). A three tiered temple mountain – the “impressive copper tower even higher than the tower of gold” (the Bayon) described by Tcheou Ta-Kouan, a Chinese diplomat visiting at the end of the 13th century. Probably the central temple of the fourth kingdom of Angkor. More at “The…