Srah Srang
The Srah Srang ( Khmer ស្រះស្រង់ , in German "Royal Bath") is a water reservoir measuring approximately 725 × 400 meters near the historical facilities of Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat and the current city of Siem Reap ( Cambodia ).
history
The Srah Srang is one of the testimonies of the Angkor culture. According to an inscription from the time of its creation, it served "the welfare of all creatures" with the exception of the "dike breakers", which meant elephants. The modern name Srah Srang (Royal Bath) does not correspond to the original function of the building. The time of origin falls in the 10th century, in the reign of King Rajendravarman II. (944–968). The royal builder in charge was called Kavindrarimathana; His works also included the state temple Pre Rup , which is within sight, and the almost equally close Eastern Mebon .
The original brick structure of Kavindrarimathanas can still be seen on the stairs of the landing site on the west bank. This was built over in the Bayon style under King Jayavarman VII (1181 – around 1220) when he provided the landing site with a terrace and had the whole lake covered in sandstone. To this day, more than a millennium after its establishment, the Srah Srang is intact and forms a wide, calm body of water. Locals and tourists alike relax on its banks.
investment
A Srah is generally regarded as a “water basin for ritual ablutions” and is excavated, not dammed between dams like a baray - the water level is therefore at the natural level. Accordingly, a Srah is usually smaller than a Baray; the area of Srah Srang, for example, fits nearly fifty times the area of neighboring Eastern Baray . Srah and Baray are more or less positioned across the slope of the landscape (in order to avoid too different bank heights or too high dams) and at the same time strictly aligned with the cardinal points (to symbolize harmony with earth and sky). The rectangles of the artificially created water areas in the central Angkor region extend from west to east.
The Banteay Kdei temple is in line with the Srah Srang and forms an ensemble with it. If you leave the temple complex through the east gate, the water surface is only visible as soon as you have crossed the path and climbed the steps of the opposite sandstone terrace. Steps flanked by two lion figures and further down by Naga lead down to the water. This landing stage was probably actually in use at one point: some sandstone debris was discovered near the middle of the lake, which can be considered the remains of a mebon (ancestral temple on an artificial island).
Receipts and further information
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 1999, ISBN 974-8225-27-5 .
- Luca Invernizzi Tettoni and 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
- ↑ Dimensions according to Zieger 2006, p. 17.
- ↑ Freeman and Jacques 1999, p. 151.
- ↑ Zieger 2006, p. 17.
- ↑ See Freeman and Jacques 1999, p. 151.
- ↑ Zieger 2007, p. 244.
- ↑ See Zieger 2006, p. 221.
- ↑ Freeman and Jacques emphasize (Freeman and Jacques 1999, p. 151) that the west-east axis of the Srah Srang is very slightly twisted in a south-north direction.
- ↑ Zieger 2006, pp. 18 and 242.
Coordinates: 13 ° 25 ′ 51.6 ″ N , 103 ° 54 ′ 24.1 ″ E