Showing posts with label Baphuon Temple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baphuon Temple. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Monday, July 04, 2011
Fabled Cambodian 'puzzle' temple reopens to public
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOT7eZydSms&feature=player_embedded
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Cambodian 'puzzle' temple reopens after 50 years
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| An ancient Angkor temple in northwestern Cambodia has reopened after 50-years (AFP, Tang Chhin Sothy) |
AFP
SIEM REAP — An ancient Angkor temple in northwestern Cambodia was reopened to the public on Sunday following the completion of a decades-long renovation project described as the world's largest puzzle.
The restoration of the 11th-century Baphuon monument, one of the country's largest after Angkor Wat, was celebrated with a high-profile ceremony attended by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
The finished project is the result of half a century of painstaking efforts by restorers to take apart the crumbling tower's 300,000 sandstone blocks and then piece them back together.
Friday, July 01, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Solved puzzle reveals fabled Cambodian temple
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKJVStyVj84&feature=player_embedded
Solved puzzle reveals fabled Cambodian temple
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| Rebuilding Cambodia's ancient temple (File/Graphic) |
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| Tourists walking around the ruins in Siem Reap, Cambodia (AFP/File, Tang Chhin Sothy) |
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| Cambodia's Baphuon temple in Siem Reap province, some 300 kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh (AFP/File, Tang Chhin Sothy) |
Thursday, June 30, 2011
By Suy Se (AFP)
SIEM REAP, Cambodia — It has taken half a century, but archaeologists in Cambodia have finally completed the renovation of an ancient Angkor temple described as the world's largest three dimensional puzzle.
The restoration of the 11th-century Baphuon ruin is the result of decades of painstaking work, hampered by tropical rains and civil war, to take apart hundreds of thousands of sandstone blocks and piece them back together again.
"When I first saw how devastated the monument was, I never thought we would be able to put it back together," said Cambodian restorer Ieng Te, who joined the project as a young student in 1960 and was tasked with numbering stones.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Ancient [Baphuon] temple nearly restored
Oct 28, 2009
AFP
AFP
SIEM REAP (Cambodia) - ON A muggy afternoon in Cambodia's ancient Angkor complex, workers in hardhats hunch over the world's biggest jigsaw puzzle, painstakingly assembling sandstone blocks.
Walled-off from camera-toting tourists, they are finally close to completing an astonishing reconstruction of the fabled 11th century Baphuon Temple.
'This is not easy to plan like a construction project is,' says architect Pascal Royere from the French School of Asian Studies, who is leading the rebuilding team.
Restorers dismantled Baphuon in the 1960s when it was falling apart, laying some 300,000 of its stone blocks in the grass and jungle around the site.
But before the French-led team of archaeologists could reassemble the 34-metre tall temple, the hardline communist Khmer Rouge swept to power in 1975.
Up to two million people died from overwork, starvation and torture as the regime tried to re-set Cambodia to 'Year Zero' by eliminating reminders of its past - including the records to put Baphuon back together.
Walled-off from camera-toting tourists, they are finally close to completing an astonishing reconstruction of the fabled 11th century Baphuon Temple.
'This is not easy to plan like a construction project is,' says architect Pascal Royere from the French School of Asian Studies, who is leading the rebuilding team.
Restorers dismantled Baphuon in the 1960s when it was falling apart, laying some 300,000 of its stone blocks in the grass and jungle around the site.
But before the French-led team of archaeologists could reassemble the 34-metre tall temple, the hardline communist Khmer Rouge swept to power in 1975.
Up to two million people died from overwork, starvation and torture as the regime tried to re-set Cambodia to 'Year Zero' by eliminating reminders of its past - including the records to put Baphuon back together.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Largest Cambodian Buddha resurrected in Siem Reap
PHNOM PENH, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The largest reclining Buddha in Cambodia, part of the Baphuon Temple at Angkor in Siem Reap province, has just opened to the public, the Mekong Times newspaper said Wednesday.
The Buddha is a 16th century addition to the west face of the 11th century Hindu Baphuon temple, the newspaper said, adding that it marks a religious schism between the Brahmanic Angkor society and the Buddhist culture that arose later.
The Buddha is one of the final stages of the reconstruction of the temple, with the three tiered monument slated to be fully open to the public by the end of 2009.
The restoration of the temple has been an epic journey, begun by the well-known French organization Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient (EFEO) before the civil war in 1970. The project was interrupted by the war and resumed by the EFEO in 1995.
The Reclining Buddha, a representation of the Buddha after attaining enlightenment, is 70 meters long and 12 meters high. The French have undertaken nine years of "complex work" on the statue, which is one of the "most astonishing" archeological remains of the post-Angkorian period, according to a French Embassy press release.
The Buddha is a 16th century addition to the west face of the 11th century Hindu Baphuon temple, the newspaper said, adding that it marks a religious schism between the Brahmanic Angkor society and the Buddhist culture that arose later.
The Buddha is one of the final stages of the reconstruction of the temple, with the three tiered monument slated to be fully open to the public by the end of 2009.
The restoration of the temple has been an epic journey, begun by the well-known French organization Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient (EFEO) before the civil war in 1970. The project was interrupted by the war and resumed by the EFEO in 1995.
The Reclining Buddha, a representation of the Buddha after attaining enlightenment, is 70 meters long and 12 meters high. The French have undertaken nine years of "complex work" on the statue, which is one of the "most astonishing" archeological remains of the post-Angkorian period, according to a French Embassy press release.
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