Western Mebon

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Remains of the Western Mebon
The remains of the colossal statue of Vishnu Anantashayi found in western Mebon

The western mebon is a structure in Angkor and part of the UNESCO World Heritage . The Hindu temple is only partially preserved and is located on an artificial island in western Baray . The western mebon consisted of a wall ring and a sandstone terrace in the center. Most famous is the larger than life bronze statue of the reclining Vishnu , which was found there.

history

Since no historical inscriptions on western Baray and Mebon have been found, the age can only be inferred from the architecture and design. The likely builder of the Baphuon- style complex, which was built on an artificial island in the middle of western Baray, was Udayadityavarman II , king of the Khmer Empire from the middle of the 11th century . According to Albanese (2006), the western mebon is not actually a sanctuary. After the center of the Khmer Empire shifted to Phnom Penh in the south in the 15th century , Angkor began to lose its former importance . At that time, the western Baray, like most other structures, was no longer used and fell into disrepair due to overgrowth with tropical vegetation.

In 1936, Maurice Glaize , a French researcher who explored Angkor on behalf of the École française d'Extrême-Orient , discovered the remains of a colossal bronze statue in the U-shaped pond inside the wall ring , depicting the four-armed Vishnu Anantashayi , i.e. "Vishnu lying on Ananta" , represents. Glaize reports that he followed the premonition of a resident nearby, to whom a Buddha buried at this point appeared in a dream. Based on the found two right arms, the head and the upper parts of the breasts, an earlier height of 6 m can be concluded. Possibly it is the bronze statue of Buddha that Zhou Daguan mentioned in his travelogue from Angkor at the end of the 13th century. There the delegate of the Chinese emperor described a bronze Buddha lying in the middle of a lake with water pouring out of its navel. The artifacts are now on display in the National Museum in the capital, Phnom Penh .

From 1942 to 1944 Glaize freed the western Mebon from the overgrown vegetation and performed anastilosis in places . The restoration work focused on the two preserved gopuras . The poor state of construction, especially of the walls, is probably due to the combination of stone and wooden beams as building materials, which was often found in Angkor in the middle of the 11th century.

According to Glaize, the construction of the western Mebon goes back to a legend. According to this, the daughter of a king of Angkor was devoured by a huge crocodile at this point. The crocodile escaped the western Baray by digging a large hole in the wall. When it was finally caught and killed, the princess was found alive from its stomach.

architecture

Overview map of Angkor with the western Mebon in the left half of the picture

The wall ring made of sandstone has an edge length of 100 m and stands on an artificial, square elevation in the middle of the western Baray, which is now partially silted up in the eastern half, 10 m above its ground. The western Mebon can only be reached by boat all year round. The ring walls ending in a wide, like a corbelled acting cornice , the final ribbon lotus flowers represents. On each side, three smaller, single-storey gopuras with five windows between each led into the interior at a distance of 25 m. The top of the gate tower, which has a square base with a side length of 2.4 m, was worked as an eight-petalled lotus flower. The side length inside the Gopuras is almost 1.3 m. These features can be seen in the surviving remains of the wall and the still standing central southern and central eastern gopura. The front gables of the towers were framed by Nagas and the tympanum was provided with realistic animal representations within small squares, which are typical features of the Baphuon Temple and the style of the same name. The same applies to the herringbone pattern of the vertical reinforcements of the pillars and the vertical bands of the corner pillars, decorated with volute tendrils and small animal representations. Most of the reliefs have been destroyed. The best preserved are those of the front gables of the eastern gate tower of the north wall, which consist of pure ornaments . Another well-preserved relief is on the eastern lintel of the central gopura on the east side, and depicts three figures reaching for branches in the center and the neighborhoods surrounding it. The door frames were built with a miter bisecting the angle . Remains of the narrow columns (colonets) that supported the door on the side indicate a rarely used shape.

The inside of the wall ring formed a basin, which was surrounded by descending sandstone steps. The largest part of this basin was taken up by a U-shaped pond, between whose side arms a sandstone terrace with a pavilion made of perishable material rose in its center. The terrace had a side length of 12 m and was connected to the dike in front of the eastern outer wall by a 43 m long dam made of laterite and sandstone. In the middle of the terrace stood a 2.7 m deep fountain in the shape of an inverted linga , around which stairs spiraled. The initially octagonal base of the well with a distance of 0.55 m between the opposite sides widened to a circular shape with a diameter of 1 m. To the east of it was a square pond with a side length of 2 m, which was supplied with water from the well via a bronze pipe. So the water level in the pool should probably be checked.

Web links

Commons : West Mebon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Dawn F. Rooney: Angkor . Cambodia's wondrous Khmer Temples. 6th edition. Odyssey Books & Guides, Hong Kong 2011, ISBN 978-962-217-802-1 , pp. 342 .
  2. ^ A b c Michael Freeman, Claude Jacques: Ancient Angkor . 2nd Edition. River Books Ltd, Bangkok 2003, ISBN 974-8225-27-5 , pp. 188 (English).
  3. ^ A b Marilia Albanese: Angkor . National Geographic Art Guide. Ed .: National Geographic Society . G + J / RBA GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-937606-77-4 , p. 278 (Italian: I tesori di Angkor . Translated by Wolfgang Hensel).
  4. ↑ a b c Maurice Glaize: Les Monuments du groupe d'Angkor . 4th edition. Adrien-Maisonneuve, Paris 1993, ISBN 2-7200-1091-X , p. 218 (French, 285 p., Translation by Nils Tremmel into English [PDF; 8.0 MB ; accessed on August 11, 2011] First edition: Portail, Saigon 1944).
  5. ↑ a b c Maurice Glaize: Les Monuments du groupe d'Angkor . 4th edition. Adrien-Maisonneuve, Paris 1993, ISBN 2-7200-1091-X , p. 217 (French, 285 p., Translation by Nils Tremmel into English [PDF; 8.0 MB ; accessed on August 11, 2011] First edition: Portail, Saigon 1944).
  6. ^ A b Marilia Albanese: Angkor . National Geographic Art Guide. Ed .: National Geographic Society . G + J / RBA GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-937606-77-4 , p. 278, 279 (Italian: I tesori di Angkor . Translated by Wolfgang Hensel).

Coordinates: 13 ° 26 ′ 4.7 ″  N , 103 ° 48 ′ 0.4 ″  E