Banteay Srei
| Banteay Srei | |
|---|---|
UNESCO world heritage 
|
|
|
|
| Inner area of the temple area from the northeast |
|
| National territory: |
 Cambodia
|
| Type: | Culture |
| Criteria : | i, ii, iii, iv |
| Reference No .: | 668 |
| UNESCO region : | Asia and Pacific |
| History of enrollment | |
| Enrollment: | 1992 (session 16) |
Banteay Srei ( Khmer ប្រាសាទបន្ទាយស្រី ) is a Hindu temple ruin in the Angkor region of the Cambodian province of Siem Reap . The temple, which is considered one of the most artistic due to its ornamentation, was built in the middle of the 10th century. Banteay Srei is located about 23 kilometers northeast of Angkor Wat and 28 kilometers northeast of the center of the city of Siem Reap on the upper Siem Reap River.
description
The total extension of the temple complex is 200 meters from the gopuram in the east, the entrance pavilion, to the western gopuram in the third, outer wall ring. Since the eastern gopuram is unframed at the entrance and there is no evidence of a fourth wall ring, some researchers assume a former wooden palisade , others from a free-standing propyläum .
A 67-meter-long processional path, flanked on both sides by arcades and transverse pavilions, leads from the entrance to the gopuram on the east side of the outer wall of three rings that surround the temple in a rectangular shape. The outer wall ring made of laterite , which surrounds the temple pond, is 100 meters from east to west and 95 meters from north to south.
The middle wall ring on the bank of the artificial island, also made of laterite, surrounds a 42 × 38 meter courtyard. Like the outer wall ring, it has a gopuram as a passage in the east and in the west, but little of the western, a simpler brick structure, has been preserved. Also of the inner wall ring made of bricks with a side length of 24 meters, only the foundations can be seen. The high-quality pink sandstone used for the internal structures allows for particularly detailed ornamentation. Almost all the walls of the buildings in the temple area are decorated with an exceptionally fine relief decoration. Plastic garlands and foliage ornaments alternate with tile-like carved panels.
In the center of the complex of Banteay Srei are three temple towers, called Prasat , side by side on a T-shaped platform adorned with friezes, with a mandapa , a pavilion-like porch with a tiled roof, in front of the central tower, around 10 meters high . The towers flanking the central Prasat north and south are a little over 8 meters high. In numerous niches there are figures about 70 centimeters in size : Devatas , Apsaras and Dvarapalas . These works of art are so finely worked out that they look more like carved than carved in stone.
The central Prasat is Tribhuvanamaheshvara , consecrated to Shiva as the great ruler of the three worlds, northern Vishnu and southern Shiva. In addition to the east-facing entrances, all temple towers each have three false doors . In front of the entrances to the lateral and mandapa of the central Prasat, mythical yaksha guards with lion, monkey and ghost faces crouch on human bodies, while Garudas crouch on the stairwells . To the north and south-east of the temple towers are two buildings made of sandstone and some laterite components, which are known as "libraries". Above their barrel vaults , the roofs are covered with bricks in a cantilever construction .
The bas-reliefs on the lintels and portal gables of the temple towers, “libraries” and gopura with representations from Hindu mythology, especially the Ramayana, are exceptional . The tympana on the gables of the “libraries” are considered to be the most beautiful in Khmer art.
history
The temple was built in honor of the god Shiva during the reign of Rajendravarman II (944–968) . The clients were the Brahmins Yajnavaraha, Guru of the later King Jayavarman V (968-1001), and his younger brother Vishnukumara, both grandsons of Harshavarman I and wealthy landowners in the region called Ishanapura at that time. The inauguration took place on April 22, 967. The original name of the temple was Tribhuvanamahesvara ("Great God of the Triune World") and referred to a manifestation of Shiva in Hindu tradition. The name Banteay Srei in use today means "Citadel of Women" or "Citadel of Beauty".
- Reliefs on various temples
Depiction of a devi , standing in a shrine
_(6883239911).jpg)
In 1914, the temple was rediscovered by chance by French archaeologists who had been working in the Angkor region for a long time. In 1923, André Malraux caused a sensation when he tried to move sculptures and reliefs that had broken out of Banteay Srei to Phnom Penh and from there to Paris, from Cambodia, which was then still under French colonial rule as part of French Indochina . He was arrested, tried and sentenced for art theft . However, he never had to serve his three-year prison sentence because influential intellectuals in France had intervened in his favor. André Malraux became Minister of Culture in the government of General Charles de Gaulle after World War II .
From 1931 to 1936 the almost completely collapsed temple was rebuilt under the direction of Henri Marchal of the École française d'Extrême-Orient in painstaking detail using the then new methods of anastilosis . Since 2004 the Banteay Srei Temple has been restored with financial support from Switzerland .
literature
- Robert C. Arndt, Simon Hoffmann: Looking Beyond a Temple. Archaeological Diagnosis at Banteay Srei, Cambodia, 2007/2008. With contributions by M. Buess, B. Gerber and T. Sonnemann. Journal for Archeology of Cultures outside Europe 4, 2012, 27–101.
- Vittorio Roveda: Khmer Mythology - Secrets Of Angkor . River Books, Bangkok 1997. ISBN 0834804247 .
- Michael Freeman, Claude Jacques: Ancient Angkor . Asia Books, Bangkok 1999. ISBN 9748225275 .
- Louis Finot, Henri Parmentier, Victor Goloubew: A Guide to the Temple of Banteay Srei . Paris 1926.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Marilia Albanese: Angkor . National Geographic Art Guide. White Star, Vercelli 2006, ISBN 978-3-937606-77-4 , Masterpieces of Stone Carving: Banteay Srei, p. 116-126 .
Web links
Coordinates: 13 ° 35 ′ 56.1 ″ N , 103 ° 57 ′ 46.7 ″ E