Roluos group

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Satellite image with a map of the Angkor and Roluos temples
Bakong, the most important temple of the Roluos group

Roluos Group is the collective name for three important temple buildings in the immediate vicinity of the village of Roluos ( Khmer ឃុំ រលួស ) in the province of Siem Reap in Cambodia (about 12 km east of the provincial capital Siem Reap and 14 km north of the Tonlé Sap lake ). The temples, dated to the late 9th century, are called Preah Ko , Bakong, and Lolei . The ruins of two even older temples can also be found here: Prei Montí and Trapéang Phong.

historical overview

King Jayavarman II (reign 790-835) made Hariharalaya (named after the deity Harihara ), a settlement in what is now the Roluos area, the capital of his newly created Khmer empire. Although he had to retire to the Phnom Kulen in the meantime , towards the end of his life he resided again in Hariharalaya. The construction of the Prei Montí temple could go back to Jayavarman II; but perhaps his heir to the throne Jayavarman III was responsible. (835–877) three temples: Prei Montí, Trapéang Phong and the laterite core of Bakong. His successor Indravarman I (877 to about 886) had Preah Ko and the sandstone structure of the Bakong built; He also initiated the construction of the Baray Indratataka, the so-called Baray of Lolei: the oldest large water reservoir in the empire. The completion of this reservoir and the island temple of Lolei fell, after bloody disputes over the succession to the throne, in the reign of his son Yasovarman I (889 to around 915). Around the year 900 Yasovarman I moved his residence to Angkor , namely on the Phnom Bakheng ; thus ended the story of the capital Hariharalaya.

Prei Montí and Trapéang Phong

The Hindu temple Prei Montí, dedicated to Shiva , may have been built as early as the early 9th century. The ruins of three prasat (temple towers) made of brickwork stand north-south on a shared lower terrace ; each tower has a square floor plan (about 4 by 4 m), a sandstone-framed entrance on the east side and false doors in the other three walls. Linga sculptures presumably stood in the interior . An earth wall (about 900 by 700 m) surrounds the facility.

Trapéang Phong is about 1 km further south: an irregularly arranged ensemble of four Prasat, three of which are now almost level with the ground and possibly older than Prei Montí. The fourth, well-preserved brick tower with a four-tier roof pyramid is younger than Prei Montí, but was also built before the middle of the 9th century. The colonettes (decorated stone pillars to the left and right of the entrance and the false doors) are partly round and partly octagonal; the lintels (door lintels with reliefs) "are among the most beautiful works of Khmer art".

The three important temple complexes

Preah Ko: stuccoing a door lintel

The temple complexes Lolei , Preah Ko and Bakong as well as the older temple ruins Prei Montí and Trapeáng Phong are approximately on a north-south axis, each about 1 km apart.

Preah Ko was inaugurated in 879, Bakong 881, Lolei 893. Preah Ko measures a total of 500 by 400 m (perhaps the wooden royal palace stood here ), Bakong 900 at 700 m (the wooden buildings of the capital were located in the outer area), Lolei 90 at 80 m (3800 by 800 m including the Baray). Preah Ko has six towers arranged in two rows; Bakong a pyramid with a central tower, at the foot surrounded by eight towers; Lolei four of probably six planned towers. The Prasat of the Roluos Group usually consist of brickwork with integrated sandstone elements and some well-preserved stucco reliefs . Only the somewhat younger central tower of the Bakong is made entirely of sandstone. The Bakong is particularly important: as the first large state temple of the Khmer, as the largest building on the Southeast Asian mainland up to that point and as a model for later, even larger temple complexes.

literature

  • Jürgen Bergmann, Berthold Schwarz, Annaliese Wulf: Cambodia, Laos . Nelles Guide, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-88618-796-9 .
  • Michael Falser: The Pre-Angkorian Temple of Preah Ko. A Sourcebook of the History, Construction and Ornamentation of the Preah Ko Style . White Lotos Publication, Bangkok 2006, ISBN 974-4800-85-2 .
  • Michael Freeman, Claude Jacques: Ancient Angkor . River Books, Bangkok 1999, ISBN 974-8225-27-5 .
  • Luca Invernizzi Tettoni, Thierry Zéphir: Angkor. A tour of the monuments . Archipelago Press, Singapore 2004, ISBN 981-4068-73-X .
  • Nick Ray: Cambodia . Lonely Planet Publications, Victoria 2005, ISBN 1-74059-525-4 .
  • Johann Reinhart Zieger: Angkor and the Khmer temples in Cambodia . Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 2006, ISBN 974-9575-60-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Freeman and Jacques 1999, pp. 9-10 and p. 12
  2. ↑ Zieger 2006, p. 88
  3. ↑ Zieger 2006, p. 174
  4. ^ Dates and dimensions as well as the quote from Zieger 2006, pp. 87–88
  5. ↑ beeline according to the map
  6. ↑ Zieger 2006, pp. 88–93
  7. ↑ Freeman and Jacques 1999, pp. 194-203

Coordinates: 13 ° 20 ′ 9 ″  N , 103 ° 58 ′ 26 ″  E