Bakong

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bakong Temple

The temple Bakong ( Khmer : ប្រាសាទបាគង) is located near the town Siem Reap in Cambodia . The temple, built in the early years of the Kingdom of Kambuja , belongs to the so-called Roluos group . Bakong is the first monumental temple mount that a Khmer king had built on the plain and represents a significant leap in the development of Khmer architecture.

history

The five-tier Bakong Temple Mount was built in the second half of the 9th century and consecrated to Lord Shiva in 881 under the name Harihar-alaya . It was the first such temple pyramid in Angkor and served as the state temple of King Indravarman I. An inscription says: "In 881 the king, like a god, distributor of riches, set up a lingam called Indresvara ". The name Indresvara unites the name of the king with that of the god Shiva and thus suggests the king's immersion in the deity, both of which form a new unit of worship.

investment

Relief at the temple of Bakong

In addition to the considerable size of the building, the architecture has numerous other innovations:

  • The walls of the highest platform are covered in reliefs that still testify to the very high quality of their workmanship, although today they are badly damaged.
  • There are numerous subordinate shrines between the two enclosing moats, which were probably created by higher court officials.
  • The trenches are very large and hold up to a million cubic meters of water; in the inner ditch steps led down to the water surface.
  • Four streets led out of the facility in the four main directions , one of them to the Indratataka reservoir, located about 600 m to the north.

The central temple pyramid is covered with large sandstone blocks and has five platforms, the top of which rises 14 m high. The shrine that used to house the god Indresvara did not survive. Today there is a temple that was built later. Eight small cult rooms are grouped around the base of the pyramid and are probably intended to remind of the female and male ancestors of King Indravarman, because the niches to the west contain female figures and the niches to the east contain male figures.

The inner structure made of laterite was possibly built during the reign of Jayavarman II towards the end of the 8th century and only later supplemented and completed with sandstone. The structure measures 67 × 65 m at the base. At the top is a much later tower , probably added in the style of Angkor Wat under King Yasovarman II in the 12th century .

Today a newer Buddhist monastery is located in the temple area .

Web links

Commons : Bakong  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles Higham: Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations , see bibliography.

literature

  • Jürgen Bergmann, Berthold Schwarz, Annaliese Wulf: Cambodia Laos . Nelles Guide, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-88618-796-9 .
  • Michael Freeman, Claude Jacques: Ancient Angkor. River Books, Bangkok 2006, ISBN 974-8225-27-5 .
  • Charles Higham : Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations . Facts on Files, New York 2004, ISBN 0-8160-4640-9 , article "Bakong".
  • Jacques Dumarçay, Pascal Royère: Cambodian Architecture, Eighth to Thirteenth Centuries. Brill, Leiden 2001, ISBN 90-04-11346-0 .


Coordinates: 13 ° 20 ′ 9.4 ″  N , 103 ° 58 ′ 26.2 ″  E