You can post any Khmer temples that completely/still/not yet restored in this thread.

Baphuon Temple in Angkor

Cambodia completes Angkor temple renovation 'puzzle'

An ancient Angkor temple has re-opened in Cambodia following decades of reconstruction work - a task described as the world's largest puzzle.

The work has involved taking apart the Baphuon monument's 300,000 sandstone blocks and piecing them back together.

The project began in the 1960s but was interrupted by Cambodia's civil war, and restarted in the mid-1990s.

The 11th-Century three-tier tower is part of the Angkor complex which draws two million tourists a year.

Numbered blocks
The re-opening was marked by a ceremony attended by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.

"The work at Baphuon has been exceptional," Mr Fillon said.

Meanwhile, King Sihamoni expressed "profound gratitude to France" for funding the 10m-euro ($14m; £9m) project.
The BBC's Guy De Launey in Phnom Penh says the Baphuon was once among the finest of the great monuments of Angkor, but by the 1950s it was on the brink of collapse.

A French-led team of archaeologists decided that the only way to save the temple was to take it apart, our correspondent says.

They dismantled the monument, laying all the stone blocks in the surrounding jungle. Each piece was painted with a number, matching an entry on the master plan, so the tower could be rebuilt.

But work was disrupted by the civil war and the records needed to reconstruct it were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge, a hardline communist regime that took power in 1975.

The reconstruction was only restarted in 1995.

Pascal Royere, who has been overseeing the project, said the early years had been the hardest.

"We were facing a three-dimensional puzzle, a 300,000-piece puzzle to which we had lost the picture. And that was the main difficulty of this project," Mr Royere told AFP news agency.

"There is no mortar that fills the cracks which means that each stone has its own place. You will not find two blocks that have the same dimensions."

Our correspondent says that some pieces - more than 10,000 - are left over, and dot the forest floor surrounding the temple.

The Angkor region was the seat of the medieval Khmer empire.


Post by BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14005258

This is the temple!
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5183/5635808649_66ee8ecbe3_b.jpg
Photo by Chadscalson

iKJVStyVj84

Big thanks to the French!

Baphuon Temple in 1900's
http://www.angkorsecrets.com/gallery/5/imgLg/16-02_Baphuon.jpg

The temple in 3D
B6Fzt5gZxyY

lol, It is not complete if you have pieces of jigsaw left over.

Anyway, good work.

^^

Yeah, they still have a lot of stone blocks over the place and surround the temple, i don't know why they said they are complete.

Baphuon Temple

The construction of the temple back in 1940's!( Sadly during the 1975, the project was stopped and every document of the temple was burned by the Khmer Rouge!)
http://www.parismusees.com/angkor/media/pictures/3/HORIZONTALES-400X300-26.jpg

In 1990's the project is continued to restore!
http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~asia-mt/angkor/baphuon002.jpg

Now(in May)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2438/5745865612_cc4a368dbb_b.jpg

This is might be the original looked!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKZGGXsMUXI/Ta_5XBMWGqI/AAAAAAAAAAk/GTKzzBPjtno/s1600/baphuon.jpg

If it wasn't for our growth in computing power in the past 20 years, this will take forever to reconstruct.

one of d most beautiful structure I have ever seen. Heard the longest Buddha Statue is there too? What an amazing site! proud of it!

WOW it's so beautiful!!!

one of d most beautiful structure I have ever seen. Heard the longest Buddha Statue is there too? What an amazing site! proud of it!

Yes, one of the unique things about this temple is the Buddha statue. It's 9 meters tall and 70 meters long.

http://www.angkor-planet.com/JPGbaphuon/Image24.jpg

http://i56.tinypic.com/2z9dxmo.jpg

The Buddha is right behind the temple and it was built much later than the temple itself.

^^

The temple also was not a Buddhist temple as well!

They have actually destroyed parts of the temple to build that statue.

Yes, one of the unique things about this temple is the Buddha statue. It's 9 meters tall and 70 meters long.





Very strange dimension for a statue.

They have actually destroyed parts of the temple to build that statue.

Surely, probably that why the temple was so damaged.

This is might be the original looked!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKZGGXsMUXI/Ta_5XBMWGqI/AAAAAAAAAAk/GTKzzBPjtno/s1600/baphuon.jpg


Wow... this is so amazing!! So many incredible temples around Angkor...

Here is also a photo from the National Geographic of what the Angkor Wat may of looked like:

http://www.devata.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/National-Geographic-Angkor-Wat.jpg

They have actually destroyed parts of the temple to build that statue.

That's true, and the reason why they couldn't complete much of the restoration without using new blocks. However the reclining Buddha has architectural, historical and cultural merit, so it was also restored.

Wow... this is so amazing!! So many incredible temples around Angkor...

Here is also a photo from the National Geographic of what the Angkor Wat may of looked like:

http://www.devata.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/National-Geographic-Angkor-Wat.jpg

The inside back then had red and gold painted as well, looked 100 time better than today.

Even today you can see some of the parts that still remain!
http://images.travelpod.com/users/deeptiandron/2.1258225044.inside-the-corridors-or-angkor.jpg

http://images.travelpod.com/users/bassalleckj/se_asia_07-08.1197208800.angkor_wat_024.jpg

Phnom Bakheng

This temple's foundation is quite in bad condition, and tourists(hundreds of people) love to go see sunset here everyday.

http://erodley.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/100_0706.jpg?w=1024&h=768
http://erodley.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/100_0707.jpg?w=768&h=1024

Photos from Ed.

Beautiful Temple!!

Banteay Chhmar, another great temple similar to Beyon temple and it's the 4th largest Khmer temple.

Saving Banteay Chhmar

Banteay Chhmar is one of the crowning glories of King Jayavarman VII’s reign (AD 1181-c.1219). This Khmer king was a prolific builder, crisscrossing his dominion with roads, founding hospitals to care for his subjects, and creating magnificent temples to honour his family. But Banteay Chhmar, nonetheless, is something special. An architectural tour de force, it has the size and architectural refinement of a major metropolitan temple in the capital at Angkor. Yet Banteay Chhmar is not in the capital. It lies a considerable distance away, 170km northwest of the capital, in a remote region that has been described as ‘the most desolate place in Cambodia’. Why?
To understand this historic Buddhist monastic complex, it is important to relate it to the major Khmer sites in Angkor, as their impact on me and my team was essential to the development of the Global Heritage Fund (GHF) Banteay Chhmar Conservation Training Project. Their historical influence on Banteay Chhmar will also soon become apparent.

City of shrines

The sprawling city at Angkor covered, at its peak, an astonishing 1,000km², and formed the heart of a Khmer Empire which spread across present day Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. The religious needs of its inhabitants were sated by over a thousand shrines, of which the most famous is the great temple of Angkor Wat. This aesthetic triumph – built by Suryavarman II and, reputedly, the largest place of worship on the planet – preceded Jayavarman VII’s reign by about 50 years. Prior to his creation of Banteay Chhmar, Jayavarman VII built the two significant Buddhist monastic complexes of Ta Phrom and Preah Khan, and founded the walled city of Angkor Thom, which incorporated a group of 10th century monuments from a previous capital. He expanded one earlier temple there to create his new state temple – the Bayon – that is celebrated as the pinnacle of Jayavarman VII’s architectural innovations.
The Bayon, which was extended at the end of the 12th century, around the same time as Banteay Chhmar was built, is famous for its enclosure wall of bas relief panels, showing mystical and historical scenes, very similar to those found in Banteay Chhmar. Another example is the famous mythological bas reliefs in Angkor Wat, which were the first to be sculpted. All of them are examples of a breathtaking architectural tradition.
Another connection between the Bayon and Banteay Chhmar is that they have similar, fine face towers, and, following exhaustive study, it appears that those sculpted in Banteay Chhmar were prototypes for those of the Bayon. The gigantic faces on all four sides of the tower were probably Jayavarman VII’s imprimatur on the monuments he built. Appropriate, then, that these face towers are widely viewed as his finest architectural innovation.
The temple complex was built to commemorate the king’s son, and its remote location is believed to be because he fell in battle there. Such early inaccessibility creates, today, both an opportunity and a problem. Following the king’s death, the state religion changed and the Angkorian temples were subjected to Hindu iconoclasm and subsequent alterations; but, at Banteay Chhmar there is a chance to study a site that remained untouched. This lack of modification, nevertheless, has come hand in hand with neglect, and for centuries the jungle has been encroaching, causing the towers and the bas relief arcades to collapse.
In the mid 1990s an even more destructive force arrived: looters. They knocked down a unique stretch of bas reliefs with jackhammers and spirited away four out of a set of eight Avaloketesvaras (the Bodhisatva of compassion) on flatbed trucks to Thailand. Banteay Chhmar lies 170km northwest of Siem Reap, and only about 12km as the crow flies from the Thai border. Two of the panels have subsequently been returned to Cambodia, the remainder are still at large. Such theft was not without its risks. Banteay Chhmar was one of the last strongholds of the notorious modern Khmer Rouge, and ringed by minefields.
These deadly relics of conflict were only finally cleared in 2007, leaving Banteay Chhmar more vulnerable than ever to human depredation. Because of its architectural significance, Banteay Chhmar is now on UNESCO’s World Heritage ‘Tentative List’. Yet if the site was to survive, a preservation programme was urgently needed, and that is what the Global Heritage Fund has provided. But before looking at how the temple is being saved, it is important to understand what makes the site exceptional.



Orginal from
http://www.world-archaeology.com/features/saving-banteay-chhmar/

The temple of Banteay Chhmar
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/10768979.jpg

http://www.banteaychhmartourism.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DSC_0090-2-1024x682.jpg

http://www.visitbanteaychhmar.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Banteay-Chhmar-900x600.jpg

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wow, so many khmer temples around look so impressive back in it's day.

I'm even now more amazed at the complex

Thanks Gods it keeps the same original style and architecture !

^^

Banteay Chhmar also remains the original wood ceilings unlike other khmer temples.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3378/3254632009_886b4bfe0f_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3133/3255458498_8a19195e72_b.jpg
This is the wood ceiling of the temple, not much details left.

The only Khmer temple that still shows those ceiling is Angkor Wat. The ceiling were rebuilt back then maybe around 1950s or 60s, but it didn't use the same method(wood) like the ancient time.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Bwa00ef5zZg/TDFEgY1VYOI/AAAAAAAACyU/umWS_weR6WE/IMG_6176.jpg
http://www.earthdocumentary.com/cambodia/angkor_wat/09.jpg
The detail art is completely different than the original design.


This is the original wooden ceiling of Angkor Wat
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6StljjaC0uA/R5hDip25iEI/AAAAAAAAA78/HJRz4rEOQ9Q/s400/613.jpg
Taken from National Geographic Magazine in 1912( I heard that the ceiling was removed into National Museum of Cambodia)

Angkor Wat

Cleaning the exterior surface but damaged the temple very bad, some of the exterior reliefs were gone(because of the acid liquid)

http://www.btinternet.com/~andy.brouwer/aw2.jpg

Before the cleaning was done(full of rich details)
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5184/5629989870_395072c75a_b.jpg


After

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/Photos/cambodia69.jpg

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/Photos/cambodia68.jpg

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/Photos/cambodia58.jpg

Before the cleaning was done(full of rich details)
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5184/5629989870_395072c75a_b.jpg


After

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/Photos/cambodia69.jpg

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/Photos/cambodia68.jpg

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/Photos/cambodia58.jpg

Wait, when was this cleaning thing done??

^^
In the early 90's!

wow, I never even knew this!

Is most of the Angkor temple like this? Or only some of it has been wiped out by acid?

Sad...

^^

I'm not so sure, but i know it's not only Angkor Wat!

Restore one of the bar-reliefs in Angkor Wat(1980?)

http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-12-13/fHAttsCgtuvnqgDIfgkpruCfufHjcIioDGyJIIfctwsibpdnwBmgEzptsozz/05.gif.scaled1000.gif

http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-12-13/uJqEuEClfngztwxreoisuwwqnkdAqpieJzBfJFhlhlhdcCceDtiBpmliqbvu/10.gif.scaled1000.gif

http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-12-13/jxApBlCinyonnglGHaHtGChsEqohdaGvkICybyoxvdGaCGpwiqepHcAHahkc/09.gif.scaled1000.gif

I'm not so sure what is the temple called, but im very amazed how they put everything in piece!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6100/6209042201_85cbd2fc21_o.jpg

The foreign People who tryied to clean the walls of Angkor do the damaged on Angkor Wat.
I think most of them came from India :X

I'm not so sure what is the temple called, but im very amazed how they put everything in piece!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6100/6209042201_85cbd2fc21_o.jpg

That's Preah Khan temple. ;)

when are the angkor wat temples under renovation? Like those big green construction/renovation materials convering the temples? Is there a schedule for when some temples will be under renovation?

Just wondering as we might be thinking of visiting!! :)

How long ago it is that they renovate and damage angkor wat ?
Since when they starting ?

How long ago it is that they renovate and damage angkor wat ?
Since when they starting ?

The French started renovating it soon after they arrived in the late 19th century. Some of the towers had fallen down, and other temples were completely buried in jungle and soil.

when are the angkor wat temples under renovation? Like those big green construction/renovation materials convering the temples? Is there a schedule for when some temples will be under renovation?

Just wondering as we might be thinking of visiting!! :)

Angkor Wat is restored by GACP (German Apsara Conservation Project), and they're working on the the frontside now. Furthermore, their website doesn't tell any date about the renovation.


Oct 3, 2011
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6231/6259311807_447db68352_b.jpg

How long ago it is that they renovate and damage angkor wat ?
Since when they starting ?

If you are talking about the using of the acid water, it's probably around the late 80's to the early 90's.

Bayon in 3D World

Japanese has used a new technique of 3D scanning know as "digital copy" to build Bayon in 3D model, so they can easily study the temple more cleanly and in order to restore back to original structure.

Digitizing actual 3D objects is one of traditional research on computer vision, but recently the objects to be digitized is getting larger and larger. In our laboratory, we have researched on modeling cultural heritage objects using laser sensors. It is impossible to move such large-scale objects, but we have succeeded to digitize whole Bayon temple, which is one of Anchor heritages in Cambodia. The accuracy of the model is 1cm, whereas its dimension is 150m x 150m x 40m. It is the first time to obtain the 3D model of a huge object in this accuracy.
　We have developed a FLRS (Floating Laser Range Sensor) , which is hung from a balloon. We say such digitized cultural objects as e-Heritages. Now that we have some e-Heritages, we are now researching on how to use these 3D models. One of our challenge is to display these detailed 3D objects in practical speed. These e-Heritage 3D models should be as accurate as possible, but in practical usage, such as 3D street map for read navigation, the accuracy is not very important. We have developed our data-acquisition vehicle. Using this, we have tacked the following themes: self-localization, automatic generation of 3D town map, matching between actual 3D data and 2D map and so on. We aim for 4-dimentional virtual city, which consists of 3D digital map with actual town activities such as traffic condition, pedestrian movement and so on. One of the reasons why we need 3D street map is to make views for driving simulators. Driving simulator is a useful tool for analyzing drivers' human factor, so more realistic view is, more accurate human factor is. But for realistic view, 3D street map is not necessary; we can make realistic views from omni-directional camera mounted on our vehicle. This research on driving simulator and its application is collaboration work with other laboratories of mechanical engineering and traffic engineering. We are planning to continue research on modeling outdoor 3D objects and its application.
http://www.ee.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/gcoe/webmart_en/2010/07/digitizing-largescale-objects.shtml


Generation of the 3D model of the Bayon Temple and Its applications
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3D modeling of bas-reliefs at Bayon galleries
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The Library of 3D God's Faces at Bayon Temple
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Here they have done so far!

http://www.cvl.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/research/bayon/images/gallery/Overvieww_1L4sh3.jpg

http://www.cvl.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/research/bayon/images/gallery/wall1_3x1-1L.jpg

Original information is here:
http://www.cvl.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/research/bayon/gallery.shtml

I wonder what would happen if they painted Angkor Wat Gold and White, just like how it use to be.

^^

The crematory structure of King Sihanouk is a good example of Angkorian temples feel like, I'm not sure if the temples used white or not.

Ta Keo temple is under major restoration

http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z365/barrybest/Angkor%20Blog%202/file-10.jpg

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/images/stories/news/national/2013/130206/130206_03.jpg

Ta Prohm restoration workers go on strike

The entire work force of the Ta Prohm temple restoration project in Siem Reap – more than 100 people – gathered at the temple yesterday to demand the reinstatement of 30 of their number who were dismissed at the start of the month.

The 145 workers plan to ask the Siem Reap provincial authorities for permission for a formal demonstration if Deyendra Singh Sood, the manager of the project run by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for Cambodia’s APSARA Authority, did not soon agree to reinstate the workers, said Eung Khoy, vice president of the Angkor Preservation Workers Union–Indian-Cambodian Cooperation Project.

“We won’t work and will just sit and wait for Sood to come see us,” Khoy said, adding that they would not return to work until Sood found a resolution for the workers, all of whom are members of his union.

Workers allege that the 30 who were dismissed were targeted because of their attempts at collective bargaining, but Sood said the workers’ dismissal was a routine budgetary decision made not by him but by the APSARA authority.

ASI could not respond to the workers’ complaints because it only provides expertise for what is, in reality, a project of the Cambodian government, Sood said.

Keeping on more workers at this time would only threaten the quality of work on the temple, he added.

Chan Sokhom Cheta, chief of Siem Reap province’s Labour and Vocational Training Department, said he had told the 30 dismissed workers to file a complaint to his department.

“The other workers who were not dismissed should work as normal and not plan to strike,” he said.

“This is not a good way to solve the problem.”

He said that according to Sood, the restoration project was almost finished, so downsizing was expected.

Phnom Bakheng

http://erodley.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/100_0706.jpg?w=1024&h=768


It's a little bit disappointing to see that they don't use similar to original material for the reconstruction. The bricks set the reconstructed wall apart from the historical one. The difference shouldn't be that visible. But I'm happy the object will be reconstructed at all. Yes it will take a long long time, and I'm sure it will look great when ready.

It's a little bit disappointing to see that they don't use similar to original material for the reconstruction. The bricks set the reconstructed wall apart from the historical one. The difference shouldn't be that visible. But I'm happy the object will be reconstructed at all. Yes it will take a long long time, and I'm sure it will look great when ready.

Maybe because there wasnt anymore pieces left

It's a little bit disappointing to see that they don't use similar to original material for the reconstruction. The bricks set the reconstructed wall apart from the historical one. The difference shouldn't be that visible. But I'm happy the object will be reconstructed at all. Yes it will take a long long time, and I'm sure it will look great when ready.

They did used original material which was sandstone not brick. The stone was recent cut that why it looked brighter than the old ones. If it keeps over the years it will look similar to the old stone. Angkor Wat, for example, was restored with a lot of new stone during french colony now it blended well with the old one.

You are right! Cambodia a lot sand stone.

http://www.visitbanteaychhmar.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Banteay-Chhmar-900x600.jpg


it's a very wonderful, huge construction!!! :ohno:^^

I think the new stones will last longer and of better quality.

it's a very wonderful, huge construction!!! :ohno:^^

Now they just focus on restore the bas-relief selection and the central tower.

Preah Khan(?)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8524/8522995660_cbf930741f_b.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonyyz/8522995660/

Some of restoration of Ta Phrom

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7266/7548955314_1c199756bf_b.jpg

hope our pearl will better after reconstruction, especial the Angkor wat, Bayon, Angkor Thom, Banteay Chmar