Ta Keo Temple, Angkor Wat

by Rob Hemphill

Title

Ta Keo Temple, Angkor Wat

Artist

Rob Hemphill

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Ta Keo is a temple-mountain in Angkor (Cambodia), possibly the first to be built entirely of sandstone by Khmers.

Ta Keo had to be the state temple of Jayavarman V, son of Rajendravarman, who had built Pre Rup. Like Pre Rup, it has five sanctuary towers arranged in a quincunx, built on the uppermost level of five-tier pyramid consisting of overlapping terraces (a step pyramid), surrounded by moats, as a symbolic depiction of Mount Meru.

Its particularly massive appearance is due to the absence of external decorations, as carving had just begun when the work stopped, besides an elaborate use of perspective effects. It is considered an example of the so-called Khleang style.

The main axis of the temple is east-west and a 500 meters long causeway connects its eastern entrance to a landing stage on the East Baray, with which Ta Keo was in a tight relationship. The outer banks of the surrounding moats, now vanished, measured 255 m by 195 m.

The first terrace is 122 m by 106 m. Its wall of sandstone on laterite basis constitutes the outer enclosure. Along the east side there are two long galleries, whose roofs were made of wood and tiles. They were illuminated by balustrade windows.

The second terrace is 5.5 m higher. Each of the first two terraces has a gopura at the four cardinal points. Each gopura has three independent passages and a central tower with diminishing tiers.

Jayavarman V was ten years old when he succeeded his father, Rajendravarman, in 968. His early years of reign were turbulent and the court officials dominated the royal politics. When he was 17 (in 975), he began the construction of his own state temple, whose modern name is Ta Keo, that was dedicated some time around 1000. In contemporary inscriptions it is called Hemagiri or Hemasringagiri ("the mountain with golden summits").

It remained unfinished until the reign of Suryavarman I. Yogisvarapandita, a high priest who became minister of Suryavarman I and "received" the temple from him many years later, says in inscriptions that a lightning strike hit the unfinished building, an evil omen, so the work stopped. Maybe work stopped simply because of the death of Jayavarman V, as there was a struggle for succession. The temple worked continuously as a cult center until the 13th century, and even Yogisvarapandita worshiped the shrines at the first levels of the temple. (Wikipedia)

***************************************************
Featured in the following FAA Groups:

"Camera Art" 08/27/2020
"World Landscape Lovers of Art" 08/26/2020
"Hodge Podge" 08/11/2020
"Square Art World" 08/05/2020
"Your Story of Art" 08/02/2020
"New FAA Uploads" 08/02/2020
"Awesome Asia" 08/01/2020
"Your Very Best Photography" 07/31/2020
"Just Perfect" 07/31/2020

***************************************************

Uploaded

July 31st, 2020

Statistics

Viewed 695 Times  -  Last Visitor from Los Angeles, CA on 04/20/2024 at 2:33 AM

Colors

Embed

Share

Sales Sheet

Tags