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The last temple is Banteay Kdei (“The Citadel of Cells”), also built by Jayavarman VII. Reportedly, it was built with an inferior grade of sandstone, which may account for its utter dilapidation today. One website notes, interestingly, that “Though Jayavarman VII was credited with building many temples, he was also accused of squandering money on extravagant temple building projects at the expense of society and other duties.”
The next temples at Angkor Wat—East Mebon and Pre Rup—are 10th century Shaivite Hindu temples. Built approximately 10 years apart, they look very similar, with reddish brick and four-sided, pyramidical towers.
First, East Mebon:
Followed by Pre Rup, which, as I said, looks similar:
Next: One more temple, then a new country.
The next temple we visited was Banteay Srei, also known as the Pink Temple for the color of the sandstone with which it is built. Banteay Srei was consecrated to the Hindu god Shiva in the 10th century and fell out of use some 300 years later. It was rediscovered in 1914, and nine years later—fun fact—André Malraux stole four devata statues from the site, a stunt for which he was arrested. News of the event sparked increased interest in the site, and the authorities began clearing it the following year. Given how old it is, the carvings are in remarkable condition.
First, the outer walls and the walls of the third enclosure (there are three sets of walls in total), along with detail from the pediments.
After that, the interior of the temple grounds, including two small libraries and a sanctuary. None of the building interiors were accessible to the public, so we just walked around and looked. And looked. And looked. As physically small as the site is, there still was not enough time to absorb it all.
We can’t go without showing this happy fellow: the kala, who (according to one interpretation) is a manifestation of Shiva, representing time as the devourer of all things.
After Angkor Wat, we saw Bayon. Bayon was the state temple for Jayavarman VII, built as “the centrepiece of [his] massive program of monumental construction and public works”. The temple is most noted for the 216 faces carved on its towers, which—some scholars say—are copies of Jayavarman’s own face, in his role as a representation of the Buddha.
Abby and I ran the Khmer Empire Marathon in Siem Reap, Cambodia, home of the fabled Angkor Wat temple. The marathon itself ran past many of the monuments—of which Angkor Wat in only the most famous—but we arrived a few days early so we could explore them at our own pace.
Angkor Wat was built in the early 12th century as a Hindu temple, and converted to a Buddhist temple by King Jayavarman VII at the end of the 12th century. By the 16th century, however, it began to fall into disuse and was probably completely abandoned (although not forgotten) by the 19th century.
Khmer temples are built on three levels: the outer, lowest pavilion represents the underworld, the central temple on its pedestal represents the earth, and the central tower represents the sky. Given that the crush of tourists was thickest on the lowest level, I’d say this representation was pretty accurate.
Here are some more traditional sorts of photographs:
Although there are Buddha statues that are worshipped in the temple today, they are very simple. Angkor Wat, like other temples, was looted after it fell into disuse: first, for the treasures that that were stored under the central altars or the gold and jewels embedded in the Buddha statues and walls; and, later, for the Buddha statues that were either taken to foreign museums or sold as antiquities. When looters couldn’t take the whole statue, they would at least hack off the head or hands to sell. However, many of the statues already lacked heads when the looters came: Jayavarman VIII, Jayavarman VII’s grandson, had attempted to convert the country back to Hinduism when he came to power, and he destroyed the Buddha faces carved on the temples as part of his campaign. The country then suffered droughts which led to the abandonment of Siem Reap as the capital of the Khmer Empire. Coincidence?