Angkor, Cambodia: description, photos and reviews

The Kingdom of Cambodia is a country that is located in the south of the Indochina Peninsula. This is a constitutional monarchy, in which the head is the king. Legislative body is the parliament, consisting of two chambers. Its capital is Phnom Penh, and the main attraction is Angkor Wat (Cambodia). The photo below shows it at sunset.

A little about the country and its population

A small state is lost in the green jungle. It arose in the 600's AD. Nature is still virginly beautiful and surprises the traveler with amazing plants of moist savannah and unusual animals. In the center is Lake Tonle Sap. And on three sides it is surrounded by mountains. And the fourth opens with a view of the Gulf of Thailand. The rivers flow along the valley : Mekong, the main artery of the country, and Tonle Sap. This amazing stream periodically changes its direction. The river can flow into the lake or flow out of it. The population of the country is the Khmer people (about 14 million), who are 95% Buddhists. For them there are more than 4 thousand temples. The language used in everyday life is Khmer, the elderly people speak French, the young people learn English and Chinese. The climate is humid and hot. The best months to visit are from the end of October to April, when there is a dry winter with a temperature of +22 ° C to + 26 ° C. But the humidity for the whole year keeps at the level of 93%.

Sights of the country

Tourist business in the country is still poorly developed. The city of Siem Reap is known for its pagodas, temples and cotton wools: Wat Bo (wall paintings), Preah Angcherk and Preah Angchorm pagoda (very revered by the locals, there are two Buddha statues here), Yatep - local spirits that guard the city live here. The city of Sihanoukville features beautiful beaches and diving centers. But still, the most important thing 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 Siem Reap. In all greatness are located in the center of the state of Cambodia attractions - Angkor. The temple complex can practically be considered a city. This cult building is the largest in the world. Before you panorama Angkor (Cambodia, photo below), now cleared of the jungle. In addition, in this historical reserve there is a temple-mountain Bayon. This is also a very interesting and visited temple. With it from above a magnificent view of Angkor opens. The jungle rules in Ta Prom and is not going to leave it. There are more modest, but no less remarkable temples: Baksay Chkhamkong, Thama Bay Kaek and Prasat Bay.

World heritage under the supervision of UNESCO

Giant, the largest - it's all about Angkor. Cambodia, a thousand years ago, very quickly, in just 30-40 years, erected, and also decorated the temple for Hindus, admirers of the god Vishnu. This was done at the direction of King Suryavarman II. He was a warrior, spending 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 temple of Angkor. Cambodia attracted all its forces for its design and construction.

Design

By the time of Angkor, Indian culture existed for at least 4-4.5 millennia. The knowledge of Indian astronomers was extremely high. We can assume that they were attracted to the creation of the layout of the Hindu temple of Angkor. Cambodia alone would hardly have been able to do this. Especially since the temple was dedicated to the deity Vishnu - the keeper of the universe, the defender of evil, the link between people and the universe. At the end of the 20th century, the British historian D. Griesby concluded that the main structures in Angkor are the projection of the constellation of the Dragon on the earth. Search for such an interrelation was prompted by an inscription on an excavated stele of the 12th century, which reported that their country was similar to the sky. This link is indicated by another inscription of an earlier time, which states that the stones of Angkor are associated with the movement of the stars of the sky. This has given rise to numerous contemporary studies and discussions in the world of historians and archaeologists. They do not stop today.

Building

In those days, there was a lot of sandstone in the kingdom of Cambodia. The temple complex of Angkor was built from it. About 5 million tons of material was spent on the construction. He was rafted along the Siimrap River. All the stones are very smooth, as if they were polished. The mortar for their bonding was not used, and they are kept only by their own weight. They in such perfection fit one another, that the blade of a thin knife does not pass between them. It is assumed that the construction used elephants. Absolutely all surfaces are covered with kilometers of thread. These are scenes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, unicorns and dragons, warriors, griffins, charming dedavasi (dancers). From all of the above, it follows that there were very skillful masters who built Angkor. Cambodia, by all accounts, had many centuries of experience in such construction.

Architecture

It was a period of maturity in the development of a refined architecture with complete harmony of all its parts. As in many ancient civilizations, the sanctuary was the dwelling of the gods. In it only the priestly estate and kings were gathered, and also it was intended for the burial of the 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, a width of 190 m. A platform is installed in the center of the courtyard, which is fenced with a wall. The temple is built on it. There is nowhere found a capsule on which there would be its original name or the date of the beginning of construction. The Angkor Wat temple (Cambodia) consists of three buildings with a common center. There are five towers in the form of a lotus. The highest central tower rises 65 m from the ground. The main entrance to it leads from the west. The road to it, made of blocks of sandstone, is surrounded by low parapets, on which there are sculptures of snakes with seven heads. To this day, the entrance to Gopuram (gate tower above the entrance) takes place through a sacred place under the southern tower. It has a huge figure of Vishnu with 8 hands. It fills the whole space.

Sculptural design is organically associated with the entire composition of the temple. On the first tier, eight huge images are most noteworthy, the area of which is 1.2 thousand square meters. M. The walls of the 2nd tier are decorated with bas-reliefs of apsar (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 the huge conical towers. The highest is the center of the universe. All the towers represent, as the ancient Khmers understood, the abode of the gods Meru Mountain . The supine figure of the Buddha is still preserved in the highest one, although originally the temple was dedicated to Vishnu.

Historical Reserve

The temples of Angkor in Cambodia are not limited to the colossal and mysterious Angor Vat. The city of Angkor itself was the "City of capitals" with a population of more than 1,000,000 people who lived in wooden houses, which rotted at high humidity. Its ruins are located about five kilometers from the complex Angkor Wat. There are temples that were built from sandstone and tuff: the terrace of elephants, Ta-Prohm, Angor-Thom (included in the UNESCO heritage list), Preah-Kahn (translated as "sacred sword"), Ta-Prum and Bayon temple. He has 54 towers, looking up to the sky, and they are all decorated with Buddha images.

Angor Thom ("The Great Capital") and the Bayon Temple

It was the capital under the ruler Jayavarman VII. He accepted the Buddha's philosophy and built a square city with a fantastic area of 900 hectares in honor of it. It is divided by roads into 4 equal parts. Remains of stone buildings sprouted in the jungle. In the center stands the Bayon temple. Its dimensions are smaller than other Cambodian landmarks, but if you approach it closer, it strikes with greatness. Bayon has three levels. The first depicts stories from a peaceful life and battles. On the second, which is much better preserved, the tourist gets into the labyrinth of galleries with low ceilings. On each of fifty towers are carved faces, which depending on the lighting can look good or evil. These ruins look majestic, especially if you look at them from the third level.

Ta-Prohm

This temple-monastery, which was called Rajahavir ("royal monastery") with a complex layout. Its territory is heavily overgrown with trees with powerful trunks and branches. Its clearing began back in 1920. But the jungle does not want to part with it. This Buddhist temple is very romantic, as it deliberately left part of the destruction and tropical trees. He makes an indelible impression on tourists. On the territory of the monastery among the ring structures grow large silk trees and strangler trees. If the seed remains in the cracks of the masonry, it gradually grows larger and breaks down the roots and the heavy trunk wall. Initially, they become the frame of the building, but, dying, 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 on four sides of the world. Stela, who is in the monastery, describes his wealth (tons of gold dishes, silk beds), as well as attributing to the king the creation of hundreds of statues of gods, decorative towers, almost half a thousand stone houses, and the presence of hospitals in the kingdom. All the remaining walls, of course, are covered with exquisite carvings. Very popular with tourists is the place where the episode of the film "Lara Croft - Tomb Raider" was shot with Angelina Jolie. On one of the pillars there is a red paint. As the guides say, it added human blood. In fact, it added iron oxides, which are very resistant to fading. The stegosaurus, which is carved on one of the medallions, is something inexplicable in Ta Prohme.

Angkor, Cambodia: how to reach

By air

There are no direct flights from Russia to Cambodia. Near the city of Siem Reap there is an international airport. In it arrive liners 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 then fly through Kuala Lumpur or to Phnom Penh. From the capital of Cambodia, you can go further by taxi or bus. The airport is 7 km from Siem Reap, and the hotel can be reached without complications. And if the room is booked, the tourist will be met for free and taken to the hotel.

Waterway

In Siem Reap, you can get on a speedboat from Phnom Penh, if time and money allow. Tickets are sold at the reception of the hotel or in travel agencies. A tour of 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, you can take a bus. There are a lot of flights. The cheapest are Cambodian. The bus by day is quite safe transport. Night trips are not recommended.

Angkor Cambodia Tours

Tour operators offer a trip to exotic Cambodia. For example, the Moscow companies Level.travel, "VAND", Coral Trevel, as well as TEZ-tour. The tours are designed for three days and two nights.

Reviews of tourists about visiting Angkor

In the temples of Angkor, the spirit of millennia is felt. Angkor Wat was beautiful. It is said that the highest tower is connected with the cosmos. The rulers seemed to compete with each other, who would put a more beautiful temple. And all of Angkor looked like a city of gods. In all the reviews there are a lot of great photos. Angkor is surrounded by a special energy, and experienced travelers believe that he has no equal in the world. Everyone should see this country.