Reconstruction of Khmer Temples

[thekh]

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

[thekh]

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!
image hosted on flickr

Photo by Chadscalson

[thekh]

Big thanks to the French!

[thekh]

Baphuon Temple in 1900's


The temple in 3D

[mrfusion]

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

Anyway, good work.

[thekh]

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.

[thekh]

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!)


In 1990's the project is continued to restore!


Now(in May)
image hosted on flickr


This is might be the original looked!

[mrfusion]

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

[topmodelhi5]

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!

[MYPHNOMPENH]

WOW it's so beautiful!!!

[thekh]

Originally Posted by topmodelhi5

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.

[raksmey13]

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

[thekh]

The temple also was not a Buddhist temple as well!

[Saigoneseguy]

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

[mrfusion]

Originally Posted by thekh

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.

[thekh]

Originally Posted by Saigoneseguy

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

Surely, probably that why the temple was so damaged.

[travelworld123]

Originally Posted by thekh

This is might be the original looked!

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:

[Choober]

Originally Posted by Saigoneseguy

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.

[thekh]

Originally Posted by travelworld123

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:

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!

[thekh]

Phnom Bakheng

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




Photos from Ed.