By Kent Davis

In the 1950s, French artist Maurice Fiévet — well-known for his work in Africa with his talented photographer wife, Jeannette — created a series of dramatic paintings depicting life in ancient Cambodia.

Fiévet’s paintings were extraordinary because he worked with two of the world’s foremost Khmer scholars — Bernard Philippe Groslier and George Cœdès — to achieve the highest degree of visual and historical accuracy possible.

In researching the life of George Groslier — Bernard Philippe’s father — I encountered photos of Fiévet’s images in the Groslier archive. His paintings finally appeared in the April 1960 issue of National Geographic (Vol 117, No 4.) accompanying Robert Moore’s article “Angkor, Jewel of the Jungle” which begins:

“A many-times visitor to Angkor’s ruins and keen student of Khmer culture, the author links his 35 years of research with remarkable paintings by Maurice Fiévet for an unusual National Geographic article — recreating the daily life of this lost civilization. The talented artist’s drawings underwent minute scrutiny for accuracy by Bernard Groslier and George Cœdès, French scholars who have devoted years to unraveling Angkor’s riddles. The contributions of these talented men, teamed on the following pages, provide a vivid portrait of a vanished people.”

Fiévet’s art creates a vivid visual record of the rise, and fall, of the Khmer civilization. The following post shares small images of his important works, with sample quotes from the original 1960 article.

"Jayavarman II sanctified as the first devaraja of Kambuja" by Maurice Fiévet

“That there should be in this country one sole sovereign.”

Royal chaplains reported the deification of the kings on a temple tablet now preserved in the National Museum, Bangkok.

Jayavarman II found his country forced to pay tribute to Java. In the year 802 he called upon a Brahman priest “skilled in magic science” to perform a ceremony that would lodge supreme authority in one divine king and declare Kambuja’s independence.

Artist Fiévet portrays the priest anointing the symbol of the Hindu god Siva in rites sanctifying Jayavarman (right) as a devaraja, or god-king, and making it “impossible for this country of the Kambuja to pay allegiance to Java.” For the next six centuries the Khmers dominated Southeast Asia.

"Yasovarman I atop the sacred mountain" by Maurice Fiévet

“Then His Majesty… established the royal city.”

A temple inscription details the founding of Angkor, the Khmers’ capital.

One of the first acts of Yasovarman I, the monarch who reigned half a century after Jayavarman II and founded Angkor, was the erection of a “mountain” temple atop a 200-foot hill called Phnom Bakheng. Artist Fiévet portrays the helmeted monarch, surrounded by his spearmen, priests, and umbrella bearers, standing atop the shrine and pointing to the site of the future royal palace. A straightened section of the Siem Reap River forms the eastern moat. The rectangular Eastern Baray, a four-mile-long irrigation reservoir, connects with the river; the king completed it in the first year of his reign. Later monarchs transformed Angkor into one of Asia’s grandest cities, home of perhaps a million people. No trace of their wooden homes remains.

"Elephant Teams Drag Heavy Stones for the Building of Angkor Wat" by Maurice Fiévet

Artist Fiévet, copying details sculptured on the Bayon, depicts a generation’s task. Two laborers in foreground drill holes into which they set pegs for handling. Crew at right slides a block back and forth, grinding surfaces until they fit without mortar ; man atop the frame wets a strap to reduce friction. Gang at left uses rope and pulley to lift a stone. Men on distant scaffolds complete the lower gallery.

"Women of the royal palace" by Maurice Fiévet

“Sparkling with the fire thrown by the gems of her jewels”

An inscription in the Temple of Ban Theat describes the brilliance of a royal lady.

“In general, the women, as well as the men, wear a bit of cloth about their loins leaving their breasts, white as milk, uncovered,” wrote Zhou Daguan.  “They wear the chignon and go barefooted. This is so even of the king’s wives.”

Artist Fiévet, basing his painting on Chinese accounts, temple reliefs, and inscriptions, gives us a peep into the palace as a princess prepares her elaborate toilet. Swaying fans cool her while a harpist entertains. Other attendants adorn her with bracelets, arm bands, and jeweled neckpiece. Vials on her dressing table hold perfumes; bowls contain betel nut for chewing. The hand mirror is a polished bronze reflector. Royal ladies in the Khmer courts became astrologers, Sanskrit scholars, and even jurists.

"Sword In Hand, the King Holds Audience From His Golden Window" by Maurice Fiévet

“Ministers and common people . .. strike the earth with foreheads”

Zhou Daguan, the Chinese traveler, gives us an account of the salaams for a king.

As religious and secular chief, the Khmer monarch judged his subjects’ disputes at hearings twice a day in Angkor Thom. A Brahman priest, identified by topknot and the white cord about his shoulder, presents a petition while standing beneath a parasol, possibly a gift from the king. Other suppliants, who offer baskets of fruit, prostrate themselves.

“The council chamber,” Zhou Daguan wrote, “has golden window frames.”

"War Canoes Charge In to Battle: Chams Defeat Khmers on the Tonle Sap" by Maurice Fiévet

“The King of Champa assailed Kambuja with a strong fleet”

Ma Tuan-lin, a Chinese historian, related the dramatic fall of Angkor in 1177, climax of a 30-year war.

Which the Khmers and which the Chams? Artist Fiévet does not state, as sculptured bas-reliefs on the Bayon show little difference in their dress. Prows of both fleets bear images of the Garuda, a mythical half-man, half-bird sacred to the god Vishnu. As shouting warriors shake shields and brandish spears. one crew casts grappling lines about the enemy’s bow. Survivors from a sunken boat grasp floating debris. Tusk-like projections from the hulls’ painted fish-mouth figureheads appear to serve as battering rams. Screens along the gunwales protect oarsmen.

"Strings and drums entertain royal women bathing at Angkor" by Maurice Fiévet

“Among women of the noble houses one finds many as light as jade.”

Zhou Daguan, Chinese traveler

Zhou, who wrote the description above seven centuries ago, reported that

“the king has five wives: one for the private apartment. properly speaking, and four for the four cardinal points. As for concubines and palace girls, I have heard it said that they number 3,000 to 5,000.”

Marco Polo, visiting neighboring Champa in the 1280s, wrote:

“In that kingdom no woman is allowed to marry until the king shall have seen her: if the woman pleases him — then he takes her to wife: if she does not. he gives her a dowry to get her a husband.”

"Conchs, Horns, and Gongs Herald a King Riding Through Angkor Atop His Elephant" by Maurice Fiévet

Marching toward one of the city’s four-faced gates. courtiers bear on their shoulders the ark of sacred flame. One attendant carries the royal insigne, a statuette of Vishnu and the Garuda.

Banners, pennants, and mushroom-like parasols dance in the air. The royal elephant wears a golden crown; scarlet brocade veils its companion; gold plate veneers their tusks. Cambodian and Thai courts use similar regalia today.

"The King ascends the belvedere to be present at the festival." by Maurice Fiévet

“The King ascends the belvedere to be present at the festival.”

Zhou Daguan

This brilliant circus emerges almost unchanged from wall carvings on the Bayon. The strong man supporting three dwarfs, the juggler spinning a wheel with his feet, and the tight rope walker all suggest the performers in a variety show today. Swordsmen fence, and acrobatic monkeys swing from a pole. A string-and-drum orchestra entertains the king, who sits on the far dais. Pleasure-loving Khmers also matched fighting wild boars, gamecocks, and elephants on the plaza facing the Royal Palace.

"Sculpting an Image of King Jayavarman VII" by Maurice Fiévet

“His glory went from himself to the four points of space.”

Queen Indradevi, writing in flawless Sanskrit eulogized her lord, Jayavarman VII

The meditative figure taking shape under this sculptor ‘s chisel portrays Jayavarman VII, Angkor’s mightiest king.

Archeologists have found two of his statues, one at Phimai, in eastern Thailand, and the Angkor treasure shown above. The head of a third image was unearthed recently at a town east of Angkor where Jayavarman appears to have dwelt before becoming a king.

The four faces on the numerous towers and gateways built by the king repeal the statue’s facial characteristics. They represent Lokesvara, a holy one who stayed on earth to do good works, but almost surely are stylized portraits of Jayavarman himself, an ardent Buddhist.

When Jayavarman came to the throne in the year of the “moon, sky, and Vedas” — A.D. 1181 — his queen, Indradevi, wrote: “He rose up to save the land heavy with crimes.”

Angkor’s greatest builder, Jayavarman VII reconstructed the capital. He planned new palaces, pavilions, and the splendid Elephant Terrace that stretches for hundreds of yards along the Royal Plaza; he raised a mighty central temple, the Bayon, second in size only to Angkor Wat.

Nor was the king then content. He built large monastery centers — Preah Khan, Ta Prohm and Banteay Kdei — adjacent to the capital. He erected other shrines and magnified outlying cities. An inscription records that he constructed more than 100 hospitals and erected rest-houses at frequent intervals along the all-season roads he established throughout the kingdom.

Physically powerful, Jayavarman lived well into his 90s, using his years to expand the Khmer Empire to its broadest extent. Jayavarman thus could well say to his people:

“The good works that I have accomplished you should protect, for they are yours also.”

"Rockets Flare in the Sky: King, Court, and People Celebrate the New Year" by Maurice Fiévet

Flanked by nobles and attendants. the monarch sits on a dais and watches his ballet corps weave a magic pattern of color and movement. As the massive Bayon looms against the purple night, banners and pennons flutter beneath exploding fireworks. Chinese, long users of gunpowder, may have taught the Khmers how to mix nitrate, powdered charcoal and sulphur to propel their bamboo-tube rockets.

"Khmer scholars preparing scripts on palm leaves" by Maurice Fiévet

“Of the qualities acquired, the highest is knowledge.”

A Khmer stone tablet quotes the Code of Manu, the ancient Hindu law book, to emphasize the importance of learning.

Scholars here prepare scripts on sections of palm leaf. Etching the characters with a stylus. they ink the entire strip, wipe the surface clean. and leave the black deposit only in the lettering. Brahman at lower right stacks finished texts for binding with string.

Khmers also wrote on hides, but fire and jungle rot destroyed such fragile books long ago. Only temple inscriptions endure, some written in Khmer, others in Sanskrit, the sacred language of the Brahmans.

“Having drunk the nectar of knowledge,” says one inscription, the king “…gave it to others to drink.”

"Death of Angkor: Victorious Thai loot the city and march away prisoners" by Maurice Fiévet

“The earth is plunged into a sea of ruin wrought by the enemy.”

After 1431 no one left a record of the Thai final conquest of Angkor. Our woeful title is taken from an account of an earlier but less disastrous defeat.

In 1432, a year after the disaster, the Khmers abandoned their capital of Angkor.

***

For Robert Moore’s complete article, “Angkor, Jewel of the Jungle”, please consult the April 1960 issue of National Geographic (Vol 117, No 4.).

Banteay Chhmar protects thousands of square meters of historical carvings, like this scene showing traitors executed during a rebellion.

Banteay Chhmar, Cambodia — The remote Khmer temple of Banteay Chhmar is one of the most intriguing ancient shrines in Cambodia because much of the site remains hidden, 800 years after it was built. This includes thousands of square feet of detailed bas-relief carvings that remains buried, unseen since the stone walls collapses centuries ago.

The Cambodian government is working to have Banteay Chhmar listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, like the Angkor Heritage Park and the Khmer temple of Preah Vihear. Three partners supporting the efforts of the government and local authorities are the Global Heritage Fund (GHF), Community Based Tourism (CBT) and Heritage Watch International.

Andrew Marino, an educator with extensive Asian experience, is now working for Heritage Watch International teaching English to CBT workers at the site. He also maintains the Visit Banteay Chhmar website and posted these two videos produced by Agir Pour le Cambodge and Global Heritage Fund respectively. The films give viewers worldwide a chance to experience this unique and remote temple, as well as understanding more about the restoration and community development efforts underway.

Banteay Chhmar Community Based Tourism

The legendary history of Banteay Chhmar and a look at how the local community-based tourism (CBT) group is beginning to offer temple tours, homestays and educational activities including traditional music, silk weaving, bird watching etc. Originally supported by Agir Pour le Cambodge (APLC) the CBT is now supported by Global Heritage Fund (GHF) which is conserving the temple.

Global Heritage Fund at Banteay Chhmar

An overview of the Global Heritage Fund’s (GHF) conservation project of the Banteay Chhmar Temple in Banteay Chhmar, Cambodia. The 12th century Angkorian temple bears startling bas-reliefs of Angkorian-era life and Bayon-style face towers similar to those found at Bayon Temple, near Angkor Wat.

RELATED Banteay Chhmar LINKS

Banteay Chhmar 1937 – George Groslier’s 1937 account of this ancient Khmer City

Banteay Chhmar – Working to Save Another Angkor Wat

Global Heritage Fund

Heritage Watch International

The Khmer temple of Preah Vihear is located in Cambodia, as resolved by the International Court of Justice in their ruling on June 15, 1962. Photo by Kent Davis.

Strasbourg - The European Parliament has issued a strongly worded resolution seeking to end fighting between the armed forces of Thailand and Cambodia near the Khmer temple of Preah Vihear on the Cambodian-Thai border. (download a PDF of the resolution here)

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the ruling by the International Court of Justice on June 15, 1962 that irrevocably ruled that the temple stood on Cambodian soil. Despite this, violence erupted in the area again in early February, resulting in fatalities to soldiers and the displacement of innocent civilians on both sides.

According to media reports, shelling from Thailand during the recent clash has caused serious damage to the ancient Khmer temple itself. UNESCO listed Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site on July 7, 2008. The European Parliament notes that the international community has a special responsibility to preserve this monument.

This troupe of dancers from the Nginn Karet Foundation gathered at Preah Vihear to perform a dance of peace in August 2010.

Respecting a Sacred Site

Sadly, to Khmer and Hindu people throughout the world, the temple of Preah Vihear is a spiritual site that deserves respect above the affairs of governments and armies.

To honor the temple’s sacred nature, a special group of children gathered there on August 17, 2010 to perform a religious ceremony of rare intensity called a “buong suong“. At that time, sixty-two young girls danced a sacred ritual praying for peace.

All the children are students at the Conservatoire NKFC Samdech Preah Ream Buppha Devi, the first school of Cambodian dance to operate under the Royal Patronage of HRH Princess Buppha Devi.

The peace ritual was organized by Ravynn Karet Coxen, founder of the Nginn-Karet Foundation for Cambodia, as part of her ongoing effort to bring purity and respect to Khmer temples throughout the region. Though unable to return to Preah Vihear due to the fighting, the NKFC troupe conducted another peace ritual 12 km from the Cambodian-Thai border on February 10, 2011, at the temple of Banteay Chhmar.

These children join people throughout the world who wish to see the sanctity of this and every sacred Khmer temple respected.

Other Resources

Click here to download a PDF of the European Parliament resolution on the border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia (117k)

Sacred Dance Arts Sooth Cambodian Souls

Cambodia Complains of Google Map Mistake at Preah Vihear

Preah Vihear on Wikipedia

Preah-Vihear.com – Useful maps and historical information

Khmer Temple Photo Index

By Darryl Collins - Independent Scholar
Reprinted with the permission of UDAYA – Journal of Khmer Studies

Banteay Chhmar, CAMBODIA — In early March 1924, an automobile entourage had already passed through Battambang, Mongkol Borei and Sisophon before arriving at Banteay Chhmar. Photographs – possibly taken by George Groslier [footnotes at bottom - i] (1887-1945) himself, of governors’ residences, schools, a post office [ii] and court witness their passage en route to Banteay Chhmar.

School, teacher & students at Sisophon in 1924. © National Museum of Cambodia

However, it is most likely the photograph of the arrival of the motorcade on the 9 March 1924 was restaged for posterity (top photo) as a wooden glass-plate camera and tripod would almost certainly have travelled as part of the on-board luggage. Presumably the camera was positioned, and either a mechanical timer used, or someone on hand recorded this event. Parts of a glass-plate camera (possibly equipment used by Groslier), remain in the collection of the National Museum of Cambodia (below).

Incomplete glass-plate camera (equipment possibly used by George Groslier) Collection: National Museum of Cambodia

A hand-written caption under the image states ‘Arrivée à Banteai Chhmar des premières automobiles parvenues au temple’: stamped and dated ‘Mars 1924’, is further registered as ‘H181; Dim (Sunday) 9-3-1924’.

The cars display numbered licence plates: P.P.466 (rear vehicle) and P.P.72 (front vehicle). [iii] A car expert has suggested that

“the PP466 car looks to be very similar to an early 1900-29 Renault (Frenchmade); the identifying feature being the unusual engine bonnet, which had the radiator behind the engine on the firewall, rather than up front behind the grill. However, I have found other French manufacturers La Buire and Clement-Bayard also used this design around this time.”

Further, “on a second look at these cars I noticed that the car nearest to the camera has solid steel wheels which dates this car closer to 1924, the other with wire spokes, probably a little earlier.” [iv]

Illustrated advertisement: Sociéte des Transports et Messageries d’Indochine: Phnom Penh-Saigon: Auto-cars voyageurs. 1928.

Advertisements for auto-cars (1928 & 1930) include maps depicting routes ex Phnom Penh via Sisophon across the Siamese border to the rail-head at Aranyaprathet. The trip in 1924 would have been a hot and arduous one, as the temple lies some 60km from Sisophon, and even today can only be reached by an uneven dirt road.

Illustrated advertisement: Sociéte des Transports et Messageries d’Indochine: Phnom Penh-Saigon: Auto-cars voyageurs, 1930.

Personages in the Banteay Chhmar arrival photograph remain a mystery; of the eight figures in the two cars, five are almost certainly Cambodians (interpreters, guides and drivers); only three appear to be Caucasian – one in the rear car and two seated in the front car, turning to face the camera. Assuming the cars departed from Phnom Penh, together with the photographic evidence and museum interests at heart, one of the foreigners in the picture must be George Groslier.

A fourth foreign figure leaning on a walking stick, stands poised as if to welcome the group (was he resident and already working at the temple)? The sturdy wooden thatched pavilion in front of the vehicles surrounded by a fence with a decorative gate certainly lends an air of permanence to the site. Set in the dry, freshly leveled earth are three sandstone heads (deva) with newly planted native vegetation to provide a suggestion of a garden path approach to the sala (open air structure). The stone heads would have originated from the figures of gods and demons grasping the serpent Vasuki that originally flanked one of the causeways to the temple compound.

The only other witnesses to this event are three shadowy figures of curious local Khmer (to the left of the vehicles) and one solitary figure under a small thatch hut to the right, viewing the arrival of the motorcade. The comparatively short shadows under the cars suggest an early afternoon arrival.

Governor’s residence, Sisophon, 1924. © National Museum of Cambodia

George Groslier prophetically wrote in 1924, “The collection of photographs owned by the Musée Albert Sarraut is of inestimable value. Fortunate acquisitions allowed us to gather documentation over the last 30 years or so. Most of the images are purely documentary. The conditions under which some of them were taken and the difficulties associated with their conservation in Indochina, has resulted in some low contrast prints, however, they are of sufficient quality for study.”[v]

School, teacher & students, Mongkol Borei. © National Museum of Cambodia

Although photographs of the Banteay Chhmar complex were taken as early as 1914, [vi] ten years later in 1924, [vii] and again in 1932, [viii] Groslier was not to write of the temple until some four years after in his 1936 article “Troisième recherche sur les Cambodgiens” [ix], followed the next year by “Banteai Chhmar, ville ancienne du Cambodge.” [x]

Courthouse, Sisophon, 1924. © National Museum of Cambodia

George Groslier’s son, Bernard Philippe Groslier, writing of his father, headed the tribute: ‘George Groslier, French painter, writer and archaeologist: 4 February 1887-18 June 1945 (Phnom Penh, Cambodge).’ [xi]

In addition, could be added the terms ‘museologist’ and ‘photographer,’ for as the founding director of what is now the National Museum of Cambodia, the cataloguing and documenting of his milieu and the growing collection of masterpieces of Khmer art for public display, is arguably his greatest legacy.

References cited

Anon., undated catalogue: Musée A. Sarraut: Service Photographique: Inventaire des Clichés, National Museum of Cambodia.

Groslier, George, Hanoi, 1924. Catalogue Général du Musée du Cambodge (Musée Albert Sarraut).

Groslier, George, ‘Troisième recherche sur les Cambodgiens’, BEFEO XXXV : 159-206.

Groslier, George, Paris, 1937. ‘Bantéai Chhmar, ville ancienne du Cambodge’, L’Illustration, 3 April, no. 4909.

Various contributors, Paris, 1992. Disciplines Croisées : Hommage à Bernard Philippe Groslier, Editions de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Direction générale de la Coopération culturelle, scientifique et technique.

Footnotes

[ii] The post office at Svay Sisophon was originally among a number of telegraphic and postal services handed over by Siam to the French colonial administration at the time of retrocession of the provinces of Battambang, Sisophon and Siem Reap in 1907.

[iii] P.P. presumably standing for Phnom Penh; these vehicles were most likely rented for the occasion; automobile taxi services commence operations slightly later in Phnom Penh on 1 May 1925.

[iv] Quotes courtesy Gordon McPherson, vintage car enthusiast, Adelaide, South Australia.

[v] Groslier 1924.

[vi] ibid., nos. 670-716.

[vii] Anon., undated catalogue, National Museum of Cambodia, L43-55; P57-63; R99-102.

[viii] ibid., L86-133.

[ix] Groslier 1936.

[x] Groslier 1937: 352-357

[xi] Various contributors 1992: 59.

Banteay Chhmar government building, 1924. © National Museum of Cambodia

About UDAYA – Journal of Khmer Studies

Udaya is the leading scholarly journal of Khmer culture and art. Since 2005, Friends of Khmer Culture has sponsored production of the journal, edited by .

The Sanskrit word udaya means “rising sun”. The UDAYA Journal also represents a dawn and rebirth for the reemergence of Khmer scholarship after decades of civil unrest in Cambodia. The journal includes articles from leading experts on both the cultural past of Cambodia as well as modern ideas about the evolution of Khmer society.

Udaya is an annual publication with articles in Khmer, English and French. For PDF information and a Table of Contents from each issue,  click the following links:  Issue I, 2000; Issue II, 2001; Issue III, 2002; Issue IV, 2003; Issue V, 2004; Issue VI, 2005; Issue VII, 2006; Issue VIII, 2007; Issue IX, 2008

For info on subscriptions or single issue purchases please email udaya@khmerculture.net.

One of eight Lokesvara images originally carved on the temple walls of Banteay Chhmar. Four of these were looted in 1992 (see missing wall on right). The Global Heritage Fund and other agencies (see links below) are now actively preserving and restoring the historic temple.

Banteay Chhmar Information Resources

Global Heritage Fund

Heritage Watch International

Cambodia Community Based Eco-Tourism Network

Banteay Chhmar Heritage Conference Website

Archaeological Institute of America – Banteay Chhmar Site Preservation Grant

Article – Banteay Chhmar: healing the scars of looting

Article – Banteay Chhmar – Ancient Khmer City in Cambodia (1933 article)

3D Architectural reconstruction of Banteay Chhmar by Dr. Pheakday Nguonphan.

Article by Kent Davis – Devata.org

PARIS, FRANCE – The majestic temple of Angkor Wat is an icon of the medieval Khmer civilization that once flourished in Southeast Asia. But situated 110 kilometers northwest of the well-known Angkor group, experts believe another fabulous monument also holds vital clues to the mysteries of the Khmer Empire. At the behest of the Global Heritage Fund, experts recently gathered at the Guimet Museum to insure the future of the temple of Banteay Chhmar.

One of eight Lokesvara images originally carved on the temple walls of Banteay Chhmar. Four of these were looted in 1992 (see missing wall on right).

Banteay Chhmar, also called the Citadel of the Cats, lies hidden in a remote corner of Cambodia, shielded by the Dangrek Mountains to the north. Its isolated location is exactly why archaeologists and conservators are so enthusiastic about the site. In the 800 years since it was built, Banteay Chhmar has slowly collapsed, falling victim to ancient trees, invasive jungle foliage and modern looters.

But archaeologists know that the structural collapse has preserved many artistic elements, much like a time capsule. Banteay Chhmar temple remains the least-damaged repository of art commissioned by the Khmer Empire’s last great king, Jayavarman VII, who converted Cambodia to Buddhism, which remains the national religion today.

GHF conservation of the face towers at Banteay Chhmar.

Conserving Cambodian History at Banteay Chhmar

In 2007, the Global Heritage Fund (GHF) recognized the critical need for conservation, planning and protection at Banteay Chhmar. Working with Cambodian officials, GHF initiated a conservation project at the temple. British architect John Sanday, GHF’s Director for Asia and Pacific Programs, moved to the site to personally direct the work, and to oversee training for professional team of Khmer conservators to restore their nation’s priceless heritage.

GHF’s Banteay Chhmar project is the first temple restoration project led by a Khmer team.

The Cambodian government and conservation groups actively support GHF’s conservation efforts. Governor Oung Oeung of Banteay Meanchey Province and Director General Ok Sophon, Department of Heritage, Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts (MoCFA) recently hosted the second international Banteay Chhmar conference at the site, attracting nearly 200 participants.

In addition to GHF’s work stabilizing and preserving the temple structure, two other groups are working with local residents to promote social programs; Cambodia Community Based Eco-Tourism Network promotes eco-tourism, while Heritage Watch International implements heritage education programs for visitors, guides and local residents.

In addition to the main temple, the vast Banteay Chhmar site includes a large baray (ceremonial reservoir), canals and many smaller temples.

GHF Conference at Musée Guimet Rallies Support for Heritage Conservation

A Royal Cambodian Ballet dancer.

On November 30th, 2010 the Global Heritage Fund organized a special meeting at the Guimet Museum, which preserves one of the most extraordinary collections of Khmer art in the world.

Following a traditional dance blessing by member of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, a group of distinguished speakers discussed the importance of saving global heritage for future generations. Presenters included Cambodian Ambassador to France, H.E. Mr. Uch Kiman; the U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO David Killion, and Jacques Gies, President of the Musée Guimet, who just had returned from Cambodia.

John Sanday presented his ongoing work restoring Banteay Chhmar with professional team of Khmer conservators. Banteay Chhnar is the first temple conservation project in Cambodia to be led by a Khmer team of professionals training their fellow Khmers. Mr. Sanday also described how local communities are essential to the site’s protection and development to ensure long-term success for the project.

Dr. Peter Sharrock from University of London SOAS presented intriguing research on the unique Khmer art and iconography of Banteay Chhmar that the GHF project is now revealing to the world. (more info below)

Banteay Chhmar is enclosed by a one kilometer carved bas-relief wall depicting the entire history of the Khmer kingdom.

UNESCO Recognition – The Next Key Step for Banteay Chhmar

In 1992, UNESCO has recognized the 400 sq. km. Angkor area as one of the world’s most important archaeological sites.

The vast site of Banteay Chhmar is now among Cambodia’s top-listed sites for nomination to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. This little-know and rarely visited area contains one of the great architectural masterpieces of Southeast Asia, and its main temple is one of the culminating monuments of the Khmer Kingdom’s epic Angkorian Period.

Suffering from 800 years of neglect, the towers, chambers and intricate bas relief carvings of the temple have slowly collapsed to the encroaching jungle, as well as suffering from aggressive looters. Banteay Chhmar is in critical need of a master plan, pro-active conservation and increased protection, which is the exact mission government and non-profit agencies now pursue.

Early Banteay Chhmar temple plan by George Groslier.

Exploring the History and Mystery of Banteay Chhmar

Always remote, Banteay Chhmar has attracted explorers for more than a century. Etienne Aymonier first visited the site around 1883 followed by Lunet de Lajonquière around 1903. According to French archaeologist George Groslier,

“both noted that of all the Khmer monuments that they had explored Banteay Chhmar was the most ruined, the largest, the most chaotic…and the most indecipherable.”

On January 9, 1914, Groslier returned to the site to make a detailed survey, where he wrote:

“It took me ten days of uninterrupted work, from dawn to dusk, to survey Banteay Chhmar. No other temple in Cambodia is so vast or lies in such ruin…nowhere else have I felt such deep emotion studying the stones on site and re-erecting them one by one on paper.”

Groslier continued documenting the site, with the first major article for the public appearing in French in 1937 (click for George Groslier’s Banteay Chhmar article in English).

Professor Sharrock of SOAS now notes that the consecration of Banteay Chhmar dates to 1216 CE. Sharrock, a specialist in the religious transformation under the reign of the last great Khmer King Jayavarman VII, sees this unrestored temple as perhaps the greatest and least-damaged repository of Buddhist iconography from that era. His hope is that it will tell scholars even more about the Khmer than the state temple of the Bayon, which is in the Angkor group.

According Sharrock, images at Banteay Chhmar contain strong evidence for a cult of the supreme tantric Buddhist deity Hevajra, with significant participation by female practitioners, women known as Yoginis. According to Sharrock’s research, Hevajra cults were widespread at the time, reaching their peak in what is now China in 1260 CE with the Chinese emperor Kublai Khan’s consecration to Hevajra. Jayavarman VII’s devotion to Hevajra was therefore not unusual, but it does reveal the extent that this new religion influenced Southeast Asian beliefs.

Meanwhile, the iconography in the central sanctuary of Banteay Chhmar suggests that Vajrasattva and Herukas may have been at the core of this royal tantric cult. A frieze on one of the temple’s characteristic face towers may portraying the whole body of the crowned 4-faced deity sitting in the face-towers themselves.

Architectural reconstruction of Banteay Chhmar by architect Olivier Cunin, funded by the Robert Kiln Charitable Trust (UK) via GHF.

Restoring an Architectural Wonder

GHF has also employed the talents of French architect Dr. Olivier Cunin in creating 3-D archaeological reconstructions of the Banteay Chhmar complex. Cunin collaborated with Japanese photographer Baku Saito in 2005 to issue “The Face Towers of Banteay Chmar”, documenting this extraordinary temple.

The Banteay Chhmar site is now open to visitors. Interested travelers can also support the non-profit Global Heritage Fund, Cambodia Community Based Eco-Tourism Network, and Heritage Watch International with tax deductible contributions.

GHF team doing a temporary reassembly of a vault at Banteay Chhmar.

Banteay Chhmar Information Resources

Global Heritage Fund

Heritage Watch International

Cambodia Community Based Eco-Tourism Network

Banteay Chhmar Heritage Conference Website

Archaeological Institute of America – Banteay Chhmar Site Preservation Grant

Article – Banteay Chhmar: healing the scars of looting

Article – Banteay Chhmar – Ancient Khmer City in Cambodia (1933 article)

62 barefoot dancers gather at the temple of Preah Vihear on the tense Cambodian-Thai border to perform a sacred ritual for peace led by Ravynn Karet-Coxen (right).

A religious ceremony of rare intensity took place August 17 in the temple of Preah Vihear, where sixty-two young girls danced a sacred ritual to pray for peace. Originating the event was Ravynn Karet Coxen, founder of the Nginn-Karet Foundation for Cambodia.

By Frédéric Amat

© 2010 Cambodge Soir – This translation of the original article appears with the permission of the copyright holder. No further reproduction is permitted.

PREAH VIHEAR, CAMBODIA — Sixty-two girls, entirely dressed in white reminiscent of Rome’s Vestal Virgins, performed a Buong Suong (sacred ritual) before the astonished eyes of soldiers stationed in the heart of Preah Vihear temple, which is located four hours by road from Siem Reap.

All the dancers come from impoverished families living in the villages of Banteay Srey district, which is considered to be the cradle of the Khmer culture. All attend classes at the Conservatoire Buppha Devi, which was founded by the Nginn Karet Foundation and named for its Royal Patron. With specialized dance and music teachers, the Conservatoire offers these disadvantaged children from farming families the opportunity to learn the refined disciplines of classical dance, folk dance, music and shadow theater thereby discovering their country’s ancient culture and learning traditional Cambodian values.

The troupe of Nginn Karet Foundation dancers gather at Preah Vihear

According to Ravynn, “our institution doesn’t aim to train these young artists to later work in the tourist venues of nearby Siem Reap town. The arts we teach develop the spirit, mind and body by creating close communion with nature. These young dancers train to perform sacred rituals that honor and invoke our gods with the pure respect of our ancestral traditions.

“These rituals, and their associated gestures, have been developed over a thousand years to petition the heavens to bless our country and to attract prosperity and abundance to our land. Today, Angkor’s temples are perceived more for tourism or for their archaeological aspects, but rarely for their spiritual quality, which is a pity. Our goal is to re-sanctify our ancestor’s temples with these purifying rites”.

Sacred dancers ascending Preah Vihear temple with offerings of peace.

For these young artists, discipline is strict. They are required to regularly attend the training six half-days every week; the other half-days being devoted to academic studies.

In the Hindu (not Buddhist) ritual that took place at Preah Vihear — as for other ceremonies previously organized by Ravynn and members of her foundation — the dancers must be “pure”, which is to say virgins. They are not adorned with makeup or jewelry, so as to enhance the beauty of the gestures and to preserve the piety of the rites.

Gathering Lustral Water at Preah Vihear's sacred pond Srea Meas.

The adornments and offerings are therefore natural, carved by the dancers and teachers from banana trunks or designed with plants, flowers and fruits, each having a specific symbolic meaning.

“The same is true of our Institution of Royalty, which is paramount for the Khmer because it represents the divine presence on earth and the protection of the Kingdom. In accord with the ideals of the Devaraja religion of Jayavarman II, prayers, incantations and pilgrimages are all necessary to strengthen the soul of our country. I fundamentally believe that when the sacred sites have been respected as such, and re-sanctified, Cambodia will regain peace.

“It is with this goal that we organized this sacred ritual at Preah Vihear with 62 dancers. This number is not without significance, by the way. It commemorates the irrevocable judgment of the International Court of Justice of The Hague, delivered in 1962, that granted Cambodia the right to regain the sovereignty of Preah Vihear,” explains Ravynn, whose father, Nginn Karet, participated in the World Court proceedings as an expert engineer geographer.

The sacred dancers began their blessing ritual at the foot of the mountain.

So, at Preah Vihear, sixty-two dancers, candles and sticks of incense in hand, ascended hundreds of temple steps, from the mountain’s base to its final courtyard. The young ladies gently and beautifully invoked the names of all the Khmer gods, royal spirits, kings, spiritual masters, ancestors and the leaders of modern Cambodia, as they stopped at each Gopura (an entry structure on each level) to perform special ceremonies using lustral water gathered from the temple’s sacred pond of Srea Meas.

As the sacred ritual concluded storm clouds gathered and raindrops fell -- to the dancers it was a sign that their gods had heard their pleas for peace.

Focused on their ritual dance they reached the highest point at the edge of a cliff, offering their final prayers for tensions to subside so that this sacred site is again peaceful.

When all nine dance rituals were complete the witnesses were awed to see the sky darken. Within minutes lighting flashed, thunder rumbled and heavy rain descended near the mountain. On the top, only a mist of spray touched the gathered troupe of dancers, who saw it as a sign that the gods had heard their plea and accepted the Buong Suong.

This was the first time in many centuries that a sacred Hindu rite was celebrated in Preah Vihear temple; a rite for peace, at the summit of Cambodia, in this sanctuary mid-way between Heaven and Earth.

***

Cambodge Soir is the most important French language newspaper published in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It is distributed throughout the country and is available online for purchase by the single issue or by subscription (online edition).

Picture Postcards of Cambodia: 1900-1950 By Joel G. Montague

This beautiful new edition from White Lotus Press is a true historical masterpiece that captures the adventure, diversity and visual excitement of early 20th century Cambodia in a medium familiar to everyone: the picture postcard.

While French and Cambodian archives are filled with books, manuscripts and government records, the photographic history of the nation is more limited. As author Joel Montague discovered

“it is a happy coincidence that the era of French expansion to Southeast Asia…coincided with another era, one that came to be known by aficionados of ephemera as ‘the golden years’ of the picture postcard!”

Indeed, postcards became a powerful way to share the adventure of Asian life. Economical and readily available, literally millions were sent to friends and relatives around the world, forming important impressions of Cambodia, inspiring dreams and undoubtedly many journeys.

"Picture Postcards of Cambodia: 1900-1950" includes hundreds of clear, black & white postcard photos and a special section featuring rare color postcards.

Over the decades, postcards captured the rapidly changing landscape of this nation under French influence, often presenting a contrived, romantic image of the Cambodian Protectorate. Today, however, the fraction of postcards that survived are scattered among dealers, obscure archives and private collectors around the world. And so M. Montague began collecting these snapshots of the exotic life in this Eastern land with the dream of one day sharing this treasure trove of rarely-seen images of Cambodia.

The result of his passion is this splendid 327-page volume. In addition to including hundreds of his best and rarest postcard discoveries, the author organized this presentation into 16 categories, each supplemented with detailed historical information (see below for the full Table of Contents).

Postcards of Cambodia is now an essential resource for colonial scholars (e.g. as an ideal companion to Penny Edwards’ book, Cambodge: The Cultivation of a Nation, 1860-1945). Naturally, Montague’s book will be indispensible for other collectors, but with the difficult work so pleasantly accomplished, why collect? The opportunity is here for all curious travelers to instantly enjoy these fascinating glimpses of Cambodian history.

Review by Kent Davis – www.devata.org

One of the earliest postcards from the 1900 Exposition Universelle in "Picture Postcards of Cambodia: 1900-1950" By Joel G. Montague. The book also includes a special section of color postcards.

BOOK DETAILS

• Title: Picture Postcards of Cambodia 1900-1950
• Author: Joel G. Montague
• ISBN: 9789744801197
• Publisher: White Lotus Co., Bangkok
• Contents: 327 pp., illus., 19 pp. in color
• Size: 210×300 mm, pbk. Weight: 1.400 Kg

From "Picture Postcards of Cambodia: 1900-1950" By Joel G. Montague

PURCHASE INFO

Publisher and International Distributor – White Lotus Press

Founder Diethard Ande established the Bangkok-based White Lotus Press in 1972. Since then he has produced important new books about Southeast Asia and reissued classic titles that have long been out of print. White Lotus offers fast, reliable shipping worldwide. PICTURE POSTCARDS OF CAMBODIA: 1900-1950 is readily available at bookstores in Thailand.

Cambodia – Monument Books

Australia – Old Asia Bookroom

United States – Dalley Book Service

From "Picture Postcards of Cambodia: 1900-1950" By Joel G. Montague

COMPLETE TABLE OF CONTENTS

PICTURE POSTCARDS OF CAMBODIA: 1900-1950
By Joel G. Montague

1 – FRENCH INDOCHINA: THE GEOPOLITICAL CONTEXT

• An Introduction to the History of the Protectorate of Cambodia within Indochina
• Colonial Cambodia
• The Question of “non-History”
• The Picture Postcard: An Ephemeral Record of Early Twentieth Century Cambodia
• Colonial Administration in the Five States of the French Indochinese Union
• A New World: Picture Postcard Maps of Indochina

2 – PICTURE POSTCARDS OF CAMBODIA: 1900 TO MID-CENTURY

• The History of the Picture Postcard
• Categorization of Postcards of Cambodia
• The Messages on Picture Postcards with Images of Cambodia Sent from Indochina
• Photographers, Editors, Printers and the Dating of Postcards
• Identification of Some Key Elements of Picture Postcards Used to Illustrate this Book
• The Postal Service for Indochina Picture

3 – THE MONARCHY

• Images of the Cambodian Royal Family

4 – THE PALACE, THOSE SERVING THE MONARCHY, AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

• The Royal Palace in Phnom Penh
• The Palace Staff and Those Serving the Government

5 – CAMBODIA’S CAPITAL, THE GREAT CITY OF PHNOM PENH

• French Colonial Structures
• The Phnom and its Surroundings

6 – CAMBODIA’S LIFELINE -THE MEKONG RIVER

• The Port and Canal of Phnom Penh
• The Great River and the Boats on it

7 – THE KHMER AND OTHER INHABITANTS OF CAMBODIA

• The Khmer
• Other Inhabitants

8 – KHMER DANCE AND MUSIC

• Dance
• Music

9 – INSTITUTIONS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST

• Indigenous and French Troops
• The Prison System
• Educational Institutions
• Foreign and Local Hunters

10 – THE RELIGIONS OF CAMBODIA

• Buddhism
• Catholicism
• Islam (the Cham-Malay)

11 – SCENES FROM PROVINCIAL AND RURAL CAMBODIA

• Major Towns
• Villages and Dwellings

12 – THE CAMBODIAN ECONOMY

• Animal Husbandry and Agriculture
• Fisheries and Forestry
• Commerce and Handicrafts

13 – IMPORTANT EVENTS AND RITES OF PASSAGE

• Festivals and Ceremonies
• The Water Festival

14 – ARCHAEOLOGICAL WONDERS OF CAMBODIA

• Angkor Wat and its Neighbors
• Nokor (Kampong Cham)

15 – CAMBODIA AND THE KHMER ABROAD

• International Expositions and Fairs Featuring Indochina and Cambodia
• Tiny Glimpse of the Khmer Presence in Neighboring Countries

16 – COLOR PICTURE POSTCARDS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ENDNOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

LIST OF POSTCARD EDITORS AND PUBLISHERS

Cambodian palace pavilion from "Picture Postcards of Cambodia: 1900-1950"

Angkor Wat contains 12th century portraits of 1,796 individual women. They were clearly part of a "social network". American researcher Kent Davis asks "Was this temple an ancient Facebook"?

Andrew Buncombe reports from Asia for the UK Independent

Angkor, Cambodia — Amid the splendour of the 12th-century temple of Angkor Wat, they stand and stare like silent sentinels, sensuous rather than erotic, carved with elegance and care. But exactly who are these 1,796 mysterious women and why, more than a century after Cambodia’s famed Hindu temple was rediscovered by Western archaeologists, did it take the efforts of an amateur researcher from Florida to push experts into trying to resolve the puzzle?

Researcher Kent Davis at Angkor Wat.

Though Kent Davis had lived in South-east Asia during the 1990s, he did not have an opportunity to see Angkor Wat until 2005. Like most visitors to the huge complex in the centre of the Cambodia, for many years cut off from the outside world because of the presence of the Khmer Rouge, he was mesmerised by the experience.

But he was also left with a flurry of questions. “I went to Angkor as a tourist and I was startled when I got there and saw these women,” said Mr Davis, 54, a publisher and writer who now lives near Tampa, Florida. “I was not prepared for it. The human element of them struck me and I wanted to know who they were. I asked one of the guides and he said they were there to serve the king after he went to heaven.”

Mr Davis’s interest was tweaked, so he wanted to know more. He vowed he would return to the US and investigate. Yet when he got home he found there was essentially nothing written about these women, who appear throughout the temple complex in full body carvings.

The women of Angkor Wat appear to include different Asian ethnicities.

Indeed, the only study of the female carvings he could find had been made in the early 20th century by Sappho Marchal, the daughter of Frenchman Henri Marchal, then the curator of the temple site. Frustrated but intrigued, he decided he would find out for himself. Five years and several trips to Angkor later, Mr Davis has slowly begun to get some answers.

MSU researchers plotted 130 identification points on each face.

In 2008, he asked for the help of computer experts from the University of Michigan. That team was able to conduct facial mapping experiments on digital photographs of the women, or devatas. The team, whose findings were presented last month at the International Conference on Pattern Recognition, an academic convocation in Istanbul, concluded that there were at least eight different facial types, perhaps reflecting a variety of ethnicities in the Khmer kingdom.

The results are to be examined further by archaeologists and more computer mapping is planned. But for all the effort that went into the mapping, the results of which were published in DatAsia magazine, many questions about the women remain unanswered.

“It’s a 12th century Facebook,
but no one has ever heard of this social network.”

“There are almost 1,800 faces there,” said Mr Davis, who now uses 65 separate characteristics to define the individual women in a devata database. “It’s a 12th century Facebook, but no one has ever heard of this social network. This was the biggest temple the Khmer people ever built. It is still the largest religious structure on Earth! It must have been important to them because they threw everything into it. They would have only put their most important images into it; these women must have been incredibly important to the kingdom.”

Mr Davis wrote to universities, pestered experts, and sought the opinions of people from around the globe who had worked at Angkor. Trude Jacobson, an assistant professor of history at the University of Queensland, Australia, and author of Lost Goddesses: Denial of Female Power in Cambodian History, said: “Kent is an enthusiastic researcher of a question that everyone assumed was settled long ago, or doesn’t matter.

Each of the 1,796 women at Angkor Wat is unique.

“The history of women in Cambodia, until very recently, has been one in which they were relegated to the shadows. His interest is infectious and has made others more interested in questions of gender in an otherwise heavily masculinised historical inquiry.”

What has struck Mr Davis as he has continued his enquiries, is that for all the women at Angkor there are relatively few male carvings.”Could these different women represent the different professions of the Khmer kingdom?” he said. “Could they be scholars, agriculturalists? I think they must represent the most important women in the kingdom.”

Dr Peter Sharrock, an expert on South-east Asia at London’s School of African and Oriental Studies, has studied the temples around Angkor for years. “We understand [the female carvings] little but they play a major role in the architectural sculpture of these temples, which must imply a major role in the beliefs of the ancient Khmers and in the rituals in their temples,” he said.

“Khmer descent was primarily matrilineal, and Khmer women were literate and powerful. Many were queens, and most kings base their genealogies and claims to the throne on their female ancestors. The ancient Khmers venerated the goddess Prajnaparamita in the most elaborate cult to her known anywhere in Asia. So there are fundamental questions here about an exceptional female religious and regal role in ancient Cambodia that remain unanswered.”

Despite 150 years of experts purporting that the women of Angkor Wat are imaginary, Davis contends that they are realistic, accurate portraits of actual women who were members of the royal Khmer court.

Professor Jacobson believes the images were part of a broader iconography relating to the supernatural world. “The devatas, placed either side of doorways, were guards who monitored who was permitted access from the mundane world to the supernatural,” she said.

“[Those] represented as flying or dancing, were responsible for leading the souls of the dead to the supernatural world from the battlefield. The models for the images at Angkor were doubtless members of the royal family.”

Despite the abundance of women at Angkor Wat, not a single man is honored with the same type of portrait carving.

Mr Davis said he was dedicated to trying to throw greater light on the mystery of the carvings by working with the team of researchers he has cultivated. At this point, he said, starting to analyse the images was like “being the first person to get a map to the British Museum and the keys to the front door”.

He added: “Once we define facial types more thoroughly, an incredibly exciting prospect appears. If these images are portraits of actual people, it’s logical to assume that they had children within this region, and that creates the possibility of using facial pattern recognition on people living in this area to see if facial shapes and types seen at Angkor still live here. We could actually find the descendants of some of the sacred women in the temple.”

Angkor Wat, the icon of Cambodia's Khmer Empire reflects in a sacred pond.

Angkor Wat – Symbol of a nation

• The sprawling temple complex of Angkor Wat, located amid dense jungle and close to the city of Siem Reap, was built in the early 12th century and is one of a series of stunning palaces and temples that were built over a 400-year period by the Khmer Kingdom.
• Today, the temples attract up to a million tourists a year, but for many years the remarkable buildings were unknown to the West, which only “rediscovered” them in the 19th century. During the 1970s and 1980s they were off-limits as a result of the presence of the Khmer Rouge, the Maoist-inspired rebels who ruled Cambodia from 1975-79 and who then engaged in a bitter civil war for the next two decades.
• Angkor Wat itself, the most impressive and best-preserved of the complexes, was built for King Suryavarman II in the early part of the 12th century and is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. It has since become a symbol of Cambodia, even appearing on its national flag.

Angkor Wat at dawn.

Ta Som - East face of west entry pavilion, third enclosure. Photo-Luc Ionesco. © EFEO

A la découverte d’Angkor

Paris — Imagine the excitement of trekking through a tropical jungle and discovering a huge, intricately carved stone temple, a vestige of a mysterious civilization long since vanished from our world. That unbelievable scene happened hundreds of times in the 19th century as intrepid French explorers discovered the monuments of the mighty Khmer Empire in the Southeast Asian country of Cambodia.

The École Française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO), an agency that has conducted extensive archaeological studies in Cambodia, has amassed a huge archive of information over the past 110 years. From September 10 until January 2, 2011 the Cernuschi Museum in Paris will host an exceptional collection of rare photos capturing the EFEO’s work at Angkor since 1907.

Angkor was the vibrant Khmer capitol for hundreds of years, but when the civilization collapsed in the 15th century the dense jungle slowly, and dramatically, reclaimed the city. Hundreds of years later, French explorer Henri Mouhot arrived and when his reports of a fabulous lost city built by an unknown civilization reached France they caused a sensation.

This exhibit, with 108 photos selected by EFEO library manager Isabelle Poujol, shows the temples of Angkor between 1860 and 1960 — before, during and after their release from the jungle’s grip.

The exhibit naturally shows work at the larger temples of Angkor Wat, the Bayon and Preah Khan, but also focuses on three other unique buildings:

Banteay Srei, dvarapala, guardian of the false west front door, central sanctuary, photographer Luc Ionesco © EFEO.

Banteay Srei – A 10th century temple dedicated to Shiva that was only rediscovered in 1914. Banteay Srei was the first temple in the Angkor area where the technique of anastylosis was used, i.e. using the original architectural elements to the greatest extent possible in rebuilding the strucure.

The Baphuon – An 11th century Hindu “temple-mountain” dedicated to Shiva that is the focus of a French restoration project that began in 1943 and resulted in the creation of a huge stoneyard with an inventory of 300,000 blocks.

Neak Pean – This Buddhist temple, whose name means “entwined serpents”, is build on an artificial island that was originally in one of the vast reservoirs created by the Khmer.

In addition to photos, the exhibit includes key documents relating to the discoveries and a stereoscopic image viewer. A new documentary on Angkor by director Didier Fassio is screened free every morning at 11 AM in the Conference Room (1st floor) of the museum.

This exhibition is part of the Mois de la Photo in Paris.

Video

This French language video offers a look at many of the rare photos on display in the exhibit.

Musée Cernuschi – Des archéologues à Angkor from Paris Musees on Vimeo.

Archaeologists at Angkor:
Photographic Archives from the EFEO

By Denise Heywood

The sight of ancient ruins emerging from the jungle has always captured the imagination. When recorded in early black and white photographs these images, swathed in mystery, are even more evocative and nowhere more so than in the jungles of Cambodia at Angkor.

The lost city, submerged in tropical forest after its demise in the 15th century, remained almost impenetrable until 1860 when the French explorer Henri Mouhot, one of a number of early visitors, captured its magic in drawings and written descriptions….

Read the rest of the article in the Asian Art Newspaper.

Museum Details

Isabelle Poujol, EFEO Library Director.

Gilles Béguin, Curator, Cernuschi Museum Director.

Cernuschi Museum

7 avenue Velasquez-75008 Paris Tel: 01 53 96 21 50
From 10:00 to 18:00, except Mondays and holidays

Admission prices at the exhibition

7 Euros TP – 5 euros TR1 – TR2 EUR 3.50. Age 13 and under free.

Exhibition Catalogue

256 pages / 148 illustrations, 29 euros

Click here to read this article in Italian at Cultor.org

The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, look at the Wall Curving of Ramayana & Mahabharata Story on Angkor Wat Temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

By Kent Davis

“To the age old friendship between India and Cambodia; to the progress and prosperity of the people of Cambodia; and to the historic city of Siem Reap and to the World Heritage site of Angkor Wat.”

With these words the President of India, Shrimati Pratibha Devisingh Patil, honored her Cambodian hosts in Siem Reap province, home of Angkor, the capital of the Khmer empire that brought civilization to most of Southeast Asia between the 8th and 15th centuries.

India and Cambodia share much religious, architectural, artistic, literary and spiritual heritage. In ancient times, royal members of the educated Brahman class began traveling to Southeast Asia where local leaders apparently welcomed them and assimilated their ideas into their own indigenous culture.

The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil at Banteay Srey, the Citadel of Women.

In Earth in Flower, Paul Cravath relates one tale Cambodia’s origin with a royal Indian progenitor:

According to the oral tradition recorded by the Chronicles, Preah Thong was the son of a north Indian king who was banished and came to Kok Thlok where he drove out the Cham ruler prior to his courtship of the beautiful daughter of the King of the Nāga, called Neang Neak (nana naka) or “Lady Serpent.”

Following a grand marriage, the nāga king created a kingdom for his son-in-law by drinking the waters covering a vast area on which he then formed houses and a palace. This kingdom took the new name of Kambuja, and Preah Thong was the first Khmer king.

The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil at Ta Prohm Temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Cambodian classical dance still include performances of this legend in their repertoire.

The President’s title, Shrimati (abbreviated as Smt.), is a title of veneration that means radiant or effulgent light. The Khmer language shares this term because of its Sanskrit roots. The “Sri” root of the title itself is a feminine term from ancient times, but today men have adopted the formerly feminine prefix. Married women use Shrimati and Sushri is used as the equivalent of Ms.

In 2007, Smt.  Patil became the first woman President of India. Her appointment is a powerful reminder that women also played essential roles in developing, governing and perpetuating the Khmer Empire. The most magnificent temples built by the Khmer, including Angkor Wat, the Bayon, Ta Prohm, Preah Khan and many others, prominently feature female imagery.

Regarding her views on the role of women, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil stated that

“Empowerment of women is particularly important to me as I believe this leads to the empowerment of the nation.”

The Khmer civilization evidently valued equality and women’s rights very highly in building their balanced society. The latest research on the women of Angkor Wat indicates that they may have represented many different nationalities. There is considerable evidence that Angkor was an important international center for economic and intellectual commerce so this seems probable.

Before her visit to Angkor the King of Cambodia, H.M. Norodom Sihamoni, received Smt. Patil at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, H.E. Mr. Hun Sen and the President of the National Assembly, H.E. Mr. Heng Samrin, also met with the President of India during her visit.

The President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, being escorted by the King of Cambodia HM Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni during the Guard of Honour Ceremony at Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil and the King of Cambodia, H.M. Norodom Sihamoni meeting at the Royal Palace on September 14, 2010.

Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hum Sen, Prime Minister of Kingdom of Cambodia called on The President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, at Royal Palace.