Southern Gateway to Angkor Thom, Cambodia.

16th August, 2012 (our 37th wedding anniversary).

 

Map from http://ltocambodia.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/5-gates-of-angkor-thom.html

Angkor Thom (Big Angkor) is a 3km x 3km walled and moated royal city and was the last capital of the Angkorian empire.  After recapturing the city from the Cham in 1181, King Jayavarman VII rebuilt the city with existing structures such as Baphuon and Phimeanakas, building a grand enclosed city around them, adding the outer wall/moat and raising other important temples including the Bayon.

Five grand entrances allowed access to the capital city, each gate crowned with four giant faces and framed by elephants wading amongst lotus flowers.

 

The central tower of the stone gate is capped by three face-towers that face the four directions (the central tower faces both out and in).  Experts are undecided as to whom these faces are meant to represent.  Possible candidates are:

• King Jayavarman VII himself
• the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara
• guardians of the empire's cardinal points
• some combination of these

Below them at the base of the gate are two sets of elephant statues that flank the entrance on both sides. Sitting on each elephant is a figure of the god Indra carrying his usual weapon—the 'vadra' (a lightning bolt).

 

The gate itself is shaped like an upside-down 'U' and is corbelled at the top (instead of arches, the builders of Angkor preferred to use corbelling to span distances).

 

In case, dear reader, like me, you had no idea what corbelling is about, here is an explanation:

In a true arch (left) the stones form a circle that supports itself. A corbelled arch (right) is built by letting successive stones overhang slightly. The steps produced by the corbelled construction are then hewn away to produce a smooth profile.

Explanation from http://www.es.flinders.edu.au/~mattom/science+society/lectures/illustrations/lecture18/arch.html

If you already knew about corbelled arches, please accept my apologies and skip the above.

For a corbelled bridge, please see my blog from the day before:  http://jemamum.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/cambodia-ancient-bridge-spean-kompong.html for the ancient bridge Spean Kompong Kdey.

The gateways themselves are 3.5m wide by 7m high, and would originally have been closed with wooden doors.  It is still possible to see where wooden doors once fitted to the gate through openings in the stone.

Our guide told us that the penalty for theft at that time was to cut off the person’s hand.  Guards would check at the gates to make sure that all people entering the city had both hands intact – that way, no thieves were allowed into the city.

 

Watching the people – and vehicles - (yes, I have used this picture before) streaming and jostling through this ancient, magnificent and precious gate, it occurred to me that to preserve this wonderful piece of architecture, it could be a good idea to ban motor vehicles from using it.