Angkor
| Angkor | |
|---|---|
UNESCO world heritage 
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| Main temple complex Angkor Wat (2005) |
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| National territory: |
 Cambodia
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| Type: | Culture |
| Criteria : | i, ii, iii, iv |
| Surface: | 40,100 ha |
| Reference No .: | 668 |
| UNESCO region : | Asia and Pacific |
| History of enrollment | |
| Enrollment: | 1992 (session 16) |
| Red list : | 1992-2004 |
Angkor ( Khmer ក្រុង អង្គរ Krŏng Ângkôr , Thaiเมือง พระนครMueang Phra Nakhon ) is a region near the town of Siem Reap in Cambodia , which from the 9th to the 15th century, the center of the historic Khmer -Königreiches Kambuja (German Khmer Empire , or Empire the Khmer ).
Angkor became world-famous through the evidence of Khmer architecture that is still visible today in the form of unique temple complexes - above all through Angkor Wat , the largest temple complex in the world.
On a total area of more than 200 km² , several capitals were built one after the other, each with a large main temple in their center. To date, more than 1,000 temples and shrines of various sizes have been discovered. There are speculations that in the greater Angkor area at the height of the historical kingdom up to a million people could have lived on about 1000 km².
The word
The Khmer word អង្គរ Ângkôr (from Sanskrit नगर Nagara ) literally means city . Today the name "Angkor" stands above all for the historical capital area at the foot of the Phnom Bakheng : the city of Yasodharapura and its successor Angkor Thom and its surroundings. Former capital areas (especially Hariharalaya , but also Phnom Kulen and Koh Ker ) are often added. It is not uncommon for the historical Khmer empire to be called Angkor in its entirety ; The modern name of the country Kampuchea derives from the original name Kambuja or Kambujadesha (Eng . Cambodia , en. Cambodia , fr. Cambodge ).
history
The history of Angkor, as the central settlement area of historical Kambuja, is also the history of the Khmer from the 9th to the 15th century.
From Kambuja itself - and thus also from the Angkor region - no written records have survived apart from inscriptions on pillars. So today's knowledge about the historical Khmer civilization comes mainly from:
- archaeological excavations, reconstructions and investigations
- Inscriptions on columns and on stones in the temple complexes in which the political and religious deeds of the kings are reported
- Reliefs on a number of temple walls with depictions of military campaigns, life at the royal court, market scenes and also from the everyday life of the residents
- Reports and chronicles of Chinese diplomats, traders and travelers.
See also : History of Cambodia
Prehistoric era
Ceramics and stone tools as well as prehistoric settlements discovered through aerial photographs prove early human settlement activity in the area of the later Kambuja and southern Vietnam as early as the Neolithic from about 5000 BC. BC ( Hoa Binh culture). From the 3rd millennium BC The cultivation of rice for irrigation was known.
Development before Angkor
Funan
During the 1st millennium BC A number of early empires and city-states developed from the settlements. These empires did not yet have fixed borders, so the larger and more powerful tried, with varying degrees of success, to expand their sphere of influence. In the 1st century, one of them gained the upper hand, whose name, Funan , has only come down to us in the Chinese translation. Presumably Funan is the Chinese transcription of biu nam ( phnom in today's Khmer), which means mountain . Archaeological finds indicate that Funan was an important stop on the trade and pilgrimage routes between China in the north and India in the west. In Oc Eo in what is now Vietnam , an important port in Funan's times, objects from the great Asian civilizations of the time were found, as well as objects from the Roman Empire . The early influences of Indian culture ( Hinduism and Mahayana - Buddhism , science) on the developing Khmer civilization also date from this period , although the local population also maintained and developed their own traditions in architecture, water regulation and agriculture.
Funan, which had consolidated its rule in the 4th century, is considered to be the earliest of the Indianized kingdoms of Cambodia.
Chenla
In Chinese chronicles, another state in the neighborhood of Funan is mentioned for the first time in the middle of the 7th century, which was called Zhenla (also Chenla ), but actually consisted of several political units. It was not until the beginning of the 7th century that a center of power developed here, especially under Isanavarman I (attested since 616) with the capital Isanapura (today in the Kompong Thom province , Cambodia ). According to the Chinese chronicles, Zhenla broke into two parts in 707, but the fragmentation was probably more extensive. According to the Chinese view, there was a "Zhenla of the country", the center of which was in the area of today's Lao province of Champassak , and a "Zhenla of the sea", which was in the area of the former Funan on the Mekong delta and along the coast. For the Angkor region, Queen Jayadevi, daughter of King Jayavarman I (approx. 657-681) is attested in 713.
The beginnings of Angkor
Jayavarman II (* 8th century, † 9th century) is considered the founding father of the Khmer Empire of Angkor . He is possibly identical to one of the historians as Jayavarman I. [No. 2] or Jayavarman I bis designated ruler, who is attested by inscriptions in the years 770 and 781. In any case, he married into a local ruling family of the Angkor region, which is evident from the inscriptions of the temples Preah Ko from January 25, 880 and Bakong from 881/82 of King Indravarman I (r. 877-889). Jayavarman II himself left no written evidence.
The period from 802 to 850 is often given as the reign of Jayavarman II, but this is not documented in any contemporary source, but rather goes back to inscriptions from the late 10th and early 11th centuries. Also based on a later tradition, namely the Sdok Kak-Thom inscription from February 8, 1053, is the representation that Jayavarman II defended his empire against the threat from the southern empire of " Java " (cf. Srivijaya ). This narrative can also be a projection of conflicts with “barbarians” ( java , yvan ) in the 11th century onto earlier times.
Its capital, along with Indrapura (location still unclear) and Hariharalaya (on Tonle Sap ), was the city of Mahendraparvata , probably located on Rong Chen Temple Mount in the Phnom Kulen hills north of the later capital Angkor - this settlement was discovered in 2012 and is located in today's Phnom -Kulen National Park .
Jayavarman's II son Jayavarman III. may have died early. He was followed by Rudravarman and Prithivindravarman from the family into which Jayavarman II had married.
Yasodharapura - the first city in Angkor
Relief, war campaign of the Khmer (Bayon)
Sunset at Phnom Bakheng
Phnom Bakheng
View from Phnom Bakheng
Indravarman I (ruled 877-889), the son of Prithivindravarman, is the actual founder of the Angkor Empire. He succeeded in expanding the kingdom without wars, and thanks to the wealth he had acquired through trade and agriculture, he began extensive construction work, especially the Preah Ko temple , inaugurated on January 25, 880, and Bakong (881/82), as well as irrigation systems. He was followed by his son Yasovarman I (ruled 889 - approx. 910), who built a new capital, Yasodharapura - the first city in Angkor.
The main temple of the city was built on Phnom Bakheng , a hill about 60 m above the Angkor plain. Under Yasovarman I, the eastern Baray ( Yasodharatataka ) was created, an enormous water reservoir 7.5 km long and 1.8 km wide (see also: Baray ).
In 928 Jayavarman IV became ruler of the Khmer Empire. Since at least 921 he had ruled as local king in Chok Gargyar, today's Koh Ker, about 100 km northeast of Angkor. When he came to the throne, he made Koh Ker briefly the capital of the empire (928-944) and resided there until his death (928-941). His son Harshavarman II also stayed in Koh Ker, but died after just three years (941-944). His successor Rajendravarman II (944–968) brought the royal court back to Yasodharapura. He resumed the extensive building projects of earlier kings and had a number of temples built in the Angkor area; last but not least the eastern Mebon on an island in the middle of the eastern Baray and several Buddhist temples and monasteries (inaugurated on January 28, 953). In 950 there was a first armed conflict between Kambuja and the Cham empire in the east (in what is now central Vietnam ).
The son of Rajendravarman II, Jayavarman V, ruled from 968 to 1001. After he had prevailed against the other princes as the new king, his reign was a largely peaceful period, characterized by prosperity and a cultural heyday. He built a new capital, Jayendanagari , in the immediate vicinity of Yasodharapura . At the court of Jayavarman V lived philosophers, scholars and artists. New temples were also built; the most important of these are Banteay Srei (inaugurated on April 22, 967), which is considered one of the most beautiful and artistic in Angkor, and Ta Keo , Angkor's first temple built entirely from sandstone.
After the death of Jayavarman V, a decade of unrest followed. Kings ruled for only a few years and were forcibly driven out by their successors one after the other until Suryavarman I (ruled 1002-1049) finally conquered the throne. His reign was determined by repeated attempts by his adversaries to overthrow him and by military conquests. In the west he extended the empire to today's Lop Buri ( Thailand ), in the south to the isthmus of Kra . Around 1 million people lived in the greater Angkor area at that time. Suryavarman I began building the western Baray , the second and even larger water reservoir (8 km × 2.2 km) after the eastern Baray . With a water depth of 2 to 3 m, it had a capacity of 40 million m³. The artificial irrigation allowed three harvests per year and an estimated yield of 2.5 t rice / ha. For comparison: In the Middle Ages, around 0.3 tons of grain per hectare were harvested in Europe. Today good harvests are 4-5 t / ha, rice 5-12 t / ha.
Suryavarman II - Angkor Wat
The 11th century was a time of unrest and brutal power struggles. Only Suryavarman II (ruled 1113 - approx. 1150) succeeded in uniting and expanding the empire. During his reign the largest temple in Angkor, the Angkor Wat dedicated to the god Vishnu (originally probably called bisnulok or Vishnuloka ) , was built in a construction period of 37 years .
Suryavarman II conquered the northwestern Mon Kingdom of Haripunjaya (today Northern Thailand ) and the area further west to the border of the Empire of Bagan (today Myanmar ), in the south large parts of the Malay Peninsula up to the Kingdom of Grahi (corresponds roughly to today's Thai province Nakhon Si Thammarat ), in the east several provinces of Champas and the countries in the north to the southern border of today's Laos . However, he also had to accept numerous sensitive defeats. The end of Suryavarman II is not clear. A last inscription that mentions his name in connection with the planned invasion of Vietnam comes from October 17th, 1145. He probably died during a campaign between 1145 and 1150.
Another period of unrest followed (the rulers Dharanindravarman II, Yasovarman II and Tribhuvanaditya are known) with rebellions. In June 1177, Kambuja was finally defeated in a sea battle on the Tonle Sap Lake by the Cham army under Jaya Indravarman IV. On June 14, 1177 the capital was sacked, King Tribhuvanaditya was killed and Kambuja was incorporated into Champa as a province.
Angkor Wat
South Gate, Angkor Thom
South gate (detail)
Jayavarman VII - Angkor Thom
As a prince, the later King Jayavarman VII (reigned 1181 - after 1206; perhaps until 1220), son of Dharanindravarman II and Cudamanis, daughter of Harsavarman III, had already been military leaders under previous kings. During the wars against the Cham Jayavarman VII had temporarily withdrawn to the Preah Khan temple complex in the Preah Vihear province . After the Cham conquered Angkor, he gathered an army and retook the capital, Yasodharapura . In 1181 he ascended the throne and waged the war against the neighboring eastern empire for 22 more years until the Khmer defeated Champa in 1203 and conquered large parts of the country.
Jayavarman VII is considered to be the last of the great kings of Angkor not only because of the successful war against the Cham, but also because he was not a tyrannical ruler, like his direct predecessors, who united the empire and finally realized it under his reign Construction project. The new capital known today as Angkor Thom (literally: Big City ) was born. In the center of the king, himself a follower of Mahayana - Buddhism , as the main temple the Bayon with its 49 towers several meters high, carved out of the stone faces of Bodhisattva Lokeshvara (also Avalokiteshvara build). Other important temples built under Jayavarman VII are Ta Prohm , Banteay Kdei and Neak Pean , as well as the Srah Srang water reservoir . In addition, an extensive road network was laid out that connected all the cities of the empire. 121 rest houses for traders, officials and travelers were built along these streets. Last but not least, he had 102 hospitals built, which were dedicated to the "Medicine Buddha" Bhaisajyaguru .
Loss of power
Who became king after the death of Jayavarman VII is uncertain. It is only known that King Indravarman II died in 1243 or 1244. According to Cham sources, the Khmer withdrew from many of the previously conquered Champas provinces in 1220. In the west, the Thai gained power, created the first Thai kingdom Sukhothai and pushed back the Khmer. The Thai became the main opponents of Kambuja for the next 200 years.
During the 13th century there was a violent reaction against the Buddhist phase of Angkor. Most of Angkor's Buddha statues were destroyed (archaeologists estimate their number at over 10,000, of which only a few have survived) and Buddhist temples were converted into Hindu temples. Indravarman II was followed either immediately in 1243 or later (1267) by Jayavarman VIII (ruled until 1295). From the outside, the empire was threatened by the Mongols under Kublai Khan's General Sagatu in 1283. By paying tribute to the powerful ruler who ruled all of China at the time, the king was able to avoid war with the overpowering enemy. Jayavarman's VIII reign ended in 1295 when he was overthrown by his son-in-law Srindravarman (ruled 1295–1309). The new king was a follower of Theravada Buddhism, a Buddhist school that had come to Southeast Asia from Sri Lanka and subsequently spread to large parts of Southeast Asia.
In August 1296, the Chinese ambassador Zhou Daguan (also Chou Ta-Kuan ) came to Angkor and stayed at the court of King Srindravarman until July 1297. He was neither the first nor the last Chinese envoy to visit Kambuja. His stay is particularly important because Zhou Daguan then wrote a detailed report on life in Angkor. His records are now considered to be one of the most important sources for understanding historical Angkor. In addition to descriptions of some large temples (Bayon, Baphuon, Angkor Wat), which we know that z. If, for example, the towers of the Bayon were covered with gold, the text also offers valuable information about the everyday life and customs of the Angkor residents.
Descent and end of Angkor
There are few historical records from the time after Srindravarman's reign. An inscription on a column, which reports the accession of a ruler named Jayavarman, dates this to either the year 1267 or 1327. Also, no more large temples were built. Historians suspect a connection with the fact that the kings were now Theravada Buddhists and therefore there was no longer any need to build huge temples especially for the gods under whose protection they were protected. The thesis that the water regulation systems fell into disrepair in the later period is not certain, as there are no indigenous documents (inscriptions) from the period between 1308 and 1546. The western neighbor, the first Thai kingdom Sukhothai, was conquered in 1350 by Ayutthaya , also a Thai kingdom. There were several attacks on Kambuja in the 14th century, but they could still be repulsed. According to Thai chronicles, they conquered Angkor in 1431, but this was also only a temporary occupation.
Not least for reasons of trade policy, the center of the Khmer Empire was relocated to the south, in the region of today's Phnom Penh . However, Angkor was not completely abandoned. The decline of the city of Angkor, not the Khmer Empire, would have been primarily a consequence of the shift in economic - and thus political - importance, as Phnom Penh became an important trading center on the Mekong.
In any case there is evidence of further use of Angkor. King Ang Chand (ruled approx. 1530–1566) had two unfinished galleries at Angkor Wat provided with friezes in 1546 and 1564. Under the rule of King Barom Reachea I (ruled 1566–1576), who temporarily succeeded in pushing back the Thai, the royal court was relocated to Angkor for a short time. In total, over 40 donor inscriptions were attached to Angkor Wat and other Angkor temples between 1546 and 1747. From the 17th century, Japanese documents date back to Japanese settlements alongside those of the Khmer who still lived in the area. The best known tells of Ukondafu Kazufusa , who celebrated the Khmer New Year there in 1632.
Detail of a high relief
Angkor Wat ( Delaporte , 1880)
Angkor Wat ( Émile Gsell , 1866)
Ta Som: Strangler fig on a side hall of the east gate
Bouillevaux, Mouhot ... - the "discovery" of Angkor
The "discovery" of Angkor by the French researcher Henri Mouhot is a myth that reflects the Eurocentric perspective of the 19th century and the interests of the colonial powers rather than the actual circumstances. For one thing, Angkor was never gone. Even after the fall of the historical empire, the Khmer knew about the existence of the ancient temples. Angkor Wat, like some other buildings, was used continuously as a temple and the surrounding area was inhabited by rice farmers and fishermen. Second, Henri Mouhot was neither the first European to visit Angkor nor the first to report on it.
Portuguese missionaries reached the city as early as the 16th century and brought reports about it to Europe. In 1586, the Portuguese explorer António da Madalena was one of the first to visit Angkor from the Occident and reported it to the historian Diogo de Couto . A number of European missionaries and traders, especially from Portugal, Spain and later also France, followed and repeatedly mentioned in their reports a “great walled city”, which probably meant Angkor Thom , and Angkor Wat. Mouhot himself never claimed to be the discoverer of Angkor. In his famous book Voyage à Siam et dans le Cambodge (1868), he himself expressly quotes from the report by the French missionary Charles-Emile Bouvillevaux. He had returned from Cambodia a few years before Mouhout left for Asia. The fact that the “exotic Angkor” first attracted the attention of the general public and scholars in the West through Mouhot's book was also due to the fact that he had illustrated the report with a series of detailed drawings.
Angkor today
As a result of the popularity that Angkor gained through Mouhot's book, it became the destination of a number of scientific expeditions. The time of systematic and scientific research began. A number of mostly French expeditions visited Angkor. Other researchers also traveled there, such as the German ethnographer Adolf Bastian , who was the first to recognize Indian influences, and a Scottish photographer, John Thomson , who made the first photographs of Angkor Wat (1866).
Art theft
With the increasing number of visitors from Europe, knowledge about the historical Khmer Empire grew. At the same time, however, the theft of many of the works of art that remained in Angkor began. The most valuable were already in the 15th century, after the defeat of Kambuja, to Ayutthaya and from there, after the Thai kingdom had been conquered by the Burmese, to Pegu and finally Mandalay , where they are still today. Four hundred years later, European explorers, adventurers and traders packed statues, bronze sculptures and also broken pieces of reliefs in boxes and shipped them to Europe, where they ended up in museums and private collections. Today very few statues can be found in their original place in Angkor. Anything that has not yet been stolen is kept in the archaeologists' archives on site or in the State Museum in Phnom Penh to prevent these last pieces from getting away. Art thieves still break panels from reliefs and chop off the heads of Apsaras to sell them on the black market in Europe, the USA or Japan. Even concrete casts, which were sometimes placed in place of the originals, keep getting stolen.
Research and restoration
At the beginning of the 20th century, the newly founded École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) began its work. Plans for the entire area were drawn up, the almost 1,000 known temples and shrines were cataloged, the around 1,200 inscriptions found translated and work began on excavating the temples from the tropical vegetation. During a visit to Java, Henri Marchal from EFEO got to know the anastilosis technique that has been used there by Dutch archaeologists for a long time . Here, crumbled structures are rebuilt from the original parts. New materials such as concrete are only used in exceptional cases to ensure static safety and are integrated as "invisibly" as possible. In 1931, EFEO archaeologists and restorers began using this technique in their work in Angkor. One of the first temples to be restored in this way was the Banteay Srei .
The work of the restorers had to be interrupted several times during the 20th century. The Second World War , the Indochina War , the subsequent end of French colonial rule in French Indochina and the Vietnam War that spanned Cambodia had already made work difficult. In 1975, after the Khmer Rouge came to power , the scientists had to leave the country and work in Angkor came to a complete standstill.
In 1986, archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) began restoration work at Angkor Wat during the civil war after the Khmer Rouge was ousted by the Vietnamese army. Today teams from different countries work in Angkor , coordinated by the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) of UNESCO : the Cambodian Institute Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap (APSARA), the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO), the Japanese Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor (JSA), the US World Monuments Fund (WMF) and the German German Apsara Conservation Project (GACP) of the Cologne University of Applied Sciences . In addition to research into the history of Angkor, the focus of the work is the preservation and reconstruction of the temples.
Since 2005 there has been a cooperation between the German Apsara Conservation Project at Cologne University of Applied Sciences and the Institute for Geology and Mineralogy at the University of Cologne . The object of the cooperation is the petrological and geochemical investigation of natural stones from various temples and quarries in order to work out possible correlations which characterize the natural stones of the quarries as supplementary material for the temples.
tourism
After the end of the civil war in Cambodia and the disarmament of the last Khmer Rouge , a largely stable democracy developed in Cambodia under the temporary auspices of the UN (see UNTAC ). This has been accompanied by a steady increase in international tourists visiting Angkor since the 1990s and, as a result, a massive expansion of the tourist infrastructure. Only the political unrest in the summer of 1997 brought a brief slump. In the nearby town of Siem Reap , old hotels from the early 20th century have reopened and a large number of new hotels have been built. These now cover the entire tourist spectrum - from luxury hotels to simple rooms. The boom in tourism in the Angkor region is closely linked to the Siem Reap-Angkor Airport , a preferred destination for low-cost Asian airlines .
In 2018, 2.59 million tourists visited the temples of Angkor Wat, in 2019 there were 2.2 million visitors, around 40% of them from China. In 2019, 61,171 visitors came from Germany who bought at least one one-day ticket.
Culture
Location of the temples and buildings in Angkor
Banteay Srei: Ravana shakes Mount Kailash, the animals flee
Terrace of the Leper King: Dharmaraja, Lord of Death (replica)
Even Funan and Chenla that Kambuja previous empires were v early as the first millennium. Was influenced by Indian religion, culture and art.
religion
Concepts from Hinduism and Mahayana - Buddhism were and mixed by the Khmer both with their own traditions with each other. As far as is known, the Khmer worldview was similar to that of India. It was therefore easy for them to integrate the new gods into their own religious ideas. The own gods and goddesses, the ancestors and heroes who had become guardian spirits, were not forgotten, but remained an integral part of everyday culture.
Hinduism
The majority of the temple complexes in Angkor were dedicated to Hindu gods, especially Shiva , more rarely Vishnu (Angkor Wat) and Brahma . In addition to the sanctuaries that were consecrated to individual gods, there are a number of reliefs in Angkor with depictions of various scenes from Hindu mythology, especially from the Ramayana .
The dominance of Hinduism over Buddhism was mainly due to its similarity to its own traditions.
Buddhism
The most widespread and levying the state religion told the Mahayana at the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century under the reign of King Jayavarman VII. From this time the impressive faces towers come with the face of the Bodhisattva Lokeshvara as the Bayon, the gate towers ( gopurams ) of the great city of Angkor Thom and a number of other temples of this time can be found. In addition to the worship of Lokeshvara, the king's beliefs focused on the historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama , to whom the central sanctuary of the Bayon was dedicated, and Prajnaparamita (the Buddhist concept of "perfection of wisdom / virtue"), to whom he founded the temple-monastery Ta Prohm dedicated. During the reign of Jayavarman II, the tantric school of Mahayana gradually gained in importance, especially in the form of the worship of the deity Hevajra .
In 1295, Srindravarman, who was a follower of Theravada Buddhism, finally ascended the throne . The Theravada had come to Southeast Asia from Sri Lanka . Today the vast majority of the population of Cambodia , Thailand , Myanmar and Laos are followers of this form of Buddhism.
Syncretism
The Khmer of historical Angkor generally did not have strict separation between different religious systems. The ideas of God, which were made known by traders and travelers from India in Southeast Asia , could very quickly find their place next to the local deities, ancestors , good and bad spirits.
Syncretism , i.e. the mixing of different religions, was an essential characteristic in one of the most important cults in Angkor. The focus of the Deva-raja cult was the linga , a conical stone that was originally assigned to the god Shiva , as a central symbol that was venerated in the innermost shrines of the great main temples . In Angkor, the linga became the symbol of Deva-raja, the “king of the gods”, who did not necessarily have to have been Shiva - if at all, researchers are still divided on this.
The Buddhist King Jayavarman VII developed a continuation of this cult by worshiping the Buddha as Buddha-raja in the central sanctuary of his main temple, the Bayon .
Devaraja
The Devaraja cult (from Sanskrit : deva : "God", rāja : "king") has been a topic of concern to historians since the discovery of the Sdok-Kok-Thom inscription, named after the place where it was found in present-day Thailand, on February 8, 1053. In this inscription, claimed that a priestly family had been responsible for the cult and its rites without interruption since the time of Jayavarman II (whose accession to the throne here, as in many other inscriptions of the 11th century, was put on the presumably ahistorical date 802). Similar, in part mutually contradicting claims can also be found in other inscriptions of the 11th century. A Brahmin , a Hindu priest, was the first to perform this ritual on Phnom Kulen (approx. 45 km northeast of what will later become Angkor). The Khmer term Kamateng Jagat ta Rajya ("Lord of the universe who is king") is more common than the term Devaraja . The Devaraja was therefore that deity under whose protection the king and with him the whole kingdom were placed. This interpretation is supported by the names adopted by the Angkor kings. For example, Indravarman means "protected by Indra " ( varman : "breastplate", as an addition to the name: "protected by").
An older interpretation assumed that the king raised himself to be god-king in the course of a ritual . The Devaraja would have been the earthly embodiment of a god, similar to the pharaohs of the early Old Kingdom in Egypt. Especially in comparison with the pharaohs, however, is probably the cause of a misinterpretation of the meaning of the Devaraja by the mostly European historians.
society
Little is known about the social conditions in historical Angkor. Some things can be inferred from inscriptions, which mostly only describe the deeds of the kings. The most important sources are the report of the Chinese envoy Zhou Daguan and the reliefs on the outer galleries of the Bayon (also from the 13th century) with depictions of the everyday life of the residents.
At the top of the hierarchy was the king. No queens are known, but the line of succession was often based on the line of the mother or wife of the king. According to the Khmer belief, the ruler was in a special relationship to 'his' god, to whom he usually dedicated a large temple and who was supposed to watch over the king and the kingdom.
Major social groups were priests and monks, soldiers, farmers and traders. Priests and monks lived in the monasteries (e.g. the Buddhist Ta Prohm ), advised the kings and took care of the religious rituals in the temples. Since Kambuja was almost always in armed conflict with neighboring empires - at the beginning with the Javanese empire, later for a long time with Champa , and finally with the rising Thai empires ( Sukhothai and Ayutthaya ) - the kings constantly maintained armed forces. Agricultural yields were also a major factor in the rise and power of the Angkor Empire. There is evidence that there were also owners of larger estates among the peasants, whose donations to temples and monasteries were recorded in inscriptions. According to Zhou Daguan's report, trade in the marketplaces was in the hands of women. In general, however, the social status of women is likely to have been significantly subordinate to that of men. At least the king usually had several wives and a number of concubines .
In addition to the Khmer, there were also Chinese, Indians, Malayans and other foreigners, mostly traders, and sometimes also seafarers, who had settled here.
Bayon: Battle of the Tonle Sap
Bayon: market scene
Face towers of the Bayon
Banteay Kdei: left two apsaras, right a devata
Art and architecture
Buildings made of stone were reserved for religious purposes in Angkor. Therefore, with the exception of the Barays and Srahs , the water reservoirs, which were vital for agriculture and the water supply of the inhabitants, all buildings still visible today are temples or parts of temple complexes, such as boundary walls, gates and the like. Consequently, the features of the buildings - the floor plan, the reliefs and sculptures that adorn the walls, the formal language and symbolism - are primarily of religious importance.
Although the religious ideas of the Khmer, and thus also art and architecture, were strongly influenced by Indian influences, they also retained and developed clearly local features that make them clearly distinguishable from other styles in Asia despite their comparable content.
Here are some of the most noticeable features:
Faces towers
One of the bemerkenswertesten developments of Khmer architecture are the towers of Bayon and a number of other buildings from the time of Jayavarman VII, a trailer of the Mahayana - Buddhism , with the often several meters high faces of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (also Lokeshvara ). Whether these images, which are all practically identical, were modeled on the king's face, has not been conclusively clarified.
Apsaras and Devatas
Apsaras and Devatas played an important role in the relief art of the Khmer . The so-called Apsaras, “heavenly dancers” born from the Sea of Milk , were usually shown dancing on lotus blossoms with their knees pointing outwards ; they appeared particularly numerous in the temples of the 12th and 13th centuries. The Devatas, female protective deities who live in the palace of Indras on Mount Meru, are also inhabitants of the Hindu heaven of gods . Unlike Apsaras, they were shown standing, often in niches in the outer walls of the temple; each devata received its own personal expression and hairstyle. The total number of apsaras and devatas on the walls of the temples is several thousand - around 2,000 are found in Angkor Wat alone.
temple
To date, over 1000 temples and shrines have been discovered in Angkor. The number was much higher at the time of the historical empire. In the tropical climate of Southeast Asia , only buildings made of stone have survived the centuries since the fall of Angkor. However, it is known from inscriptions that years or decades passed before those who wanted to build a shrine or temple out of stone had the means to do so. In the meantime, the sanctuaries were made of wood and it is believed that many of these structures were never replaced by stone ones. In addition, there were already a large number of small wooden sanctuaries, which were mainly dedicated to local deities and can still be found in a similar form in Southeast Asia today.
The great temples such as Angkor Wat or the Bayon consecrated to Buddha were not built as meeting places for believers, but as palaces of the gods. So there are no wide open areas or rooms, but a central sanctuary for the God to whom the temple was consecrated, and often a multitude of smaller secondary sanctuaries, connected by gates and passages.
The ground plan of practically all temples corresponds to the worldview of Hinduism: In the center is the highest tower ( Prasat ) with the central sanctuary as a representation of the mountain Meru (in the Himalayas ), on which the gods live. The main tower is surrounded by four smaller towers, the mountains next to the Meru. The point-symmetrical arrangement is called the quincunx position. The outer boundary finally forms a moat that symbolizes the ocean.
Some of the most important temples and structures:
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construction materials
All secular buildings in Angkor, from the royal palace to the houses of the inhabitants, were made of wood. Finds of clay roof tiles indicate that at least the houses of the wealthier were covered with them. Temples were often provided with wooden canopies and doors (often shod with bronze).
The earliest temples in Angkor still standing today were built from baked clay bricks. Reliefs were often carved directly from the brick walls (such as on Prasat Kravan ) or the walls were decorated with stucco . The brick building method was sometimes used in later periods in Angkor.
Laterite , a relatively solid type of soil colored reddish brown by iron oxide , which can easily be broken into large cuboids, was used for base areas, infills in the walls of some main temples, outer enclosing walls and smaller temples. The surface was often covered with stucco because the porous surface of the laterite meant that no reliefs could be carved out. Laterite was used as the cheapest building material, especially in the provincial cities of the empire.
Sandstone became the preferred building material for Angkor architects . Although the rocks had to be fetched from Phnom Kulen, the ability to finely work the surface contributed to the fact that from the late 10th century onwards, almost all large temples were built from sandstone. Sandstone allowed the construction of large temples and the artistic design with reliefs according to Indian models. The highlight of this art is Angkor Wat with its almost 2000 m² walls covered with reliefs.
Explanation of terms
- Angkor ( khmer អង្គរ Ângkôr ): city ; from Sanskrit : Nagara
- Banteay ( បន្ទាយ Bântéay ): Citadel , a temple with a boundary wall
- Baray ( បារាយណ៍ ): water reservoir ; not dug, but created by dams
- Phnom ( ភ្នំ Phnum ): hill, mountain
- Prasat ( ប្រាសាទ Prăsat ): tower (of a temple) ; from Sanskrit: Prāsāda
- Preah ( ព្រះ Preăh ): holy ; from sanskrit: brah
- Spean ( ស្ពាន Spéan ): bridge
- Srah ( ស្រះ Srăh ): water reservoir , dug, not dammed, smaller than a baray
- Srei ( ស្រី ): women / men
- Ta ( តា ): grandfather , ahn
- Thom ( ធំ Thum ): big, great
- Varman ( វរ្ម័ន ): breastplate , as an addition to the name: protected by , e.g. B. "Suryavarman": "Protected by (the sun god) Surya "
- Wat (Thai วัด, Laotian ວັດ Vat , khmer វត្ត Vôtt ): (Buddhist) temple complex
literature
In German language:
- Marilia Albanese: Angkor . National Geographic Germany, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86690-251-0 (Italian: Le Guide dell'arte - I tesori di Angkor . 2006. Translated by Wolfgang Hensel).
- Gisela Bonn : Angkor - tolerance made of stone. DuMont, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7701-3167-3 .
- Gabriele Fahr-Becker: East Asian Art. Könemann, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-89508-845-5 .
- Karl-Heinz Golzio: Chronology of the inscriptions Kambojas. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-447-05295-3 .
- Hanna Klose-Greger : City of Elephants , Prisma-Verlag Leipzig, 1972
- Bernard Philippe Groslier : Angkor - A sunken culture in the Indochinese jungle. DuMont, Schaumburg and Cologne 1956.
- Albert Le Bonheur, Jaroslav Poncar: Of gods, kings and people. Bas-reliefs of Angkor Wat and the Bayon . Peter Hammer, Wuppertal 1995, ISBN 3-87294-710-9 .
- Pierre Loti : A pilgrimage to Angkor. Müller, Munich 1926.
- Jan Myrdal : Art and Imperialism using the example of Angkor. Nymphenburger, Munich 1973, ISBN 3-485-01827-9 .
- Chou Ta-Kuan: Morals in Cambodia. About life in Angkor in the 13th century . 2nd Edition. Angkor Verlag, Frankfurt 2006, ISBN 3-936018-42-1 .
- UNESCO: One hundred missing objects - Looting in Angkor. ICOM, Paris 1997.
In French:
- Maurice Glaize: Les Monuments du groupe d'Angkor. Original edition: Portail, Saigon 1944; New editions Adrien-Maisonneuve, Paris ³1963 and 1993, ISBN 2-7200-1091-X .
- Henri Marchal : Guide archéologique aux temples d'Angkor. van Oest, Paris 1928, new edition 1962.
- Henri Marchal : Nouveau guide d'Angkor. Impr. Du Ministère de l'Information, Phnom Penh 1964.
- Étienne Aymonier (1900–1904): Le Cambodge. 3 volumes: Le royaume actuel ; Les provinces siamoises ; Le groupe d'Angkor et l'histoire . Paris 1874, 1911.
- Étienne Lunet de Lajonquière : Inventaire descriptif des monuments du Cambodge. Leroux, Paris 1902, 1911.
- Tcheou Ta-Kouan : Mémoires sur les coutumes du Cambodge vers 1300 . Traduit par Paul Pelliot . Adrien-Maisonneuve, Paris 1951.
In English:
- David Chandler: A History of Cambodia. Westview Press, Oxford 2000, ISBN 0-8133-3511-6 .
- Bruno Dagens (English: Ruth Sharman): Angkor - Heart of an Asian Empire. Thames & Hudson, London 1995, ISBN 0-500-30054-2 .
- Damian Evans, C. Pottier, R. Fletcher, S. Hensley, I. Tapley, A. Milne, M. Barbetti: A new archaeological map of the world's largest pre-industrial settlement complex at Angkor, Cambodia. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Washington September 4, 2007, vol. 104., no. 36, ISSN 0027-8424 , pp.14277-14282.
- Michael Falser: Angkor Wat. A Transcultural History of Heritage. Volume 1: Angkor in France. From Plaster Casts to Exhibition Pavilions. Volume 2: Angkor in Cambodia. From Jungle Find to Global Icon. DeGruyter, Berlin 2020, ISBN 978-3-11-033572-9 .
- Michael Freeman, Claude Jacques: Ancient Angkor. River Books, Bangkok 2006, ISBN 974-8225-27-5 .
- Charles Higham : The Civilization of Angkor. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2001, 2004, ISBN 0-297-82457-0 , ISBN 0-520-24218-1 (as well as numerous American editions).
- Henri Mouhot : Travels in Siam, Cambodia, Laos, and Annam. White Lotus, Bangkok 2000, ISBN 974-8434-03-6 .
- David Rocks: Ancient Khmer Quarrying of Arkose Sandstone for Monumental Architecture and Sculpture (PDF). In: Karl-Eugen Kurrer , Werner Lorenz , Volker Wetzk (eds.): Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Construction History . Neunplus, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-936033-31-1 , pp. 1235-1242
- Vittorio Roveda: Khmer Mythology. River Books, Bangkok 1997, ISBN 974-8225-37-2 .
- Dawn Rooney: Angkor, Cambodia's Fabulous Khmer Temples. Odyssey Books & Guides, Hong Kong 2006, ISBN 962-217-727-1 .
- Zhou Daguan: The Customs of Cambodia. Newly translated by Michael Smithies. The Siam Society , Bangkok 2001, ISBN 974-8298-51-5 .
Web links
Officials and Research
- APSARA (en / fr / khmer) Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap - The official Cambodian organization for the coordination of all Angkor-related issues (culture, archeology, restoration, residents, agriculture, tourism ...).
- Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
- JSA (Japanese Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor) (jp / en)
- The Origins of Angkor - Research project of Otago University New Zealand with the Fine Arts Department (en) ( Memento from February 8, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- Angkor Project Group of the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR) at the University of Heidelberg (including 3D reconstruction of the temple complex and individual statues as well as visualization of the surrounding terrain)
- German Apsara Conservation Project (GACP) - Information on restoration and conservation of the Angkor Wat temple
- Greater Angkor Project (GAP) (en) - International, multidisciplinary research program on the decline of urban Angkor
- Royal Angkor Foundation - Non-profit association for the protection of monuments and the promotion of cultural life in and around Angkor
- Karl-Heinz Golzio: The founding of Angkor in the 9th century. Criticism of previous attempts at dating and genealogies. Journal of the German Oriental Society , Vol. 152, 2002, pp. 133–154
Others
- Information about Angkor (French, very detailed lists of history)
- Art and History of the Khmer. The 1997 Angkor exhibition in the Grand Palais in Paris in cosmopolis.ch
Individual evidence
- ↑ George Michell: The Hindu Temple: Architecture of a World Religion . DuMont, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-7701-2770-6 , p. 206
- ↑ Csaba Kàdas: Koh Ker, Shortguide , Hunincor 2010, ISBN 978-963-08-0470-7 , p. 15.
- ^ German Apsara Conservation Project at Angkor Vat, Cambodia (GACP).
- ↑ Claude Jacques: The Kamraten Jagat in Ancient Cambodia. in: Noboru Karashima (Ed.): Indus Valley to Mekong Delta. Explorations in Epigraphy. Madras 1986, pp. 269-286.
- ↑ This number is consistently found in Freeman / Jacques (Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques: Ancient Angkor . River Books, Bangkok 1999, ISBN 974-8225-27-5 , p. 50) and in Zieger (Johann Reinhart Zieger: Angkor und die Khmer temples in Cambodia . Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 2006, ISBN 974-9575-60-1 , p. 34). With Freeman / Jacques, however, the distinction between apsaras and devatas is blurred.
Coordinates: 13 ° 26 ′ 0 ″ N , 103 ° 50 ′ 0 ″ E
Heritage: Angkor (1992) | Preah Vihear Temple (2008) | Sambor Prei Kuk (2017)