Khmer Empire : The King city Jayavarman7 Sub all language p1/4

Lost in the heart of the Cambodian jungle, The Angkor temples stand as an enigma
Far exceeds their size of all monuments known and is one of the largest architectural ensembles in the world.
Their towers shaped lotus were built A century before that of Chartres Cathedral
The entire complex covers a huge area, the temples are crushed one over the other in a huge impetus to the sky.
The walls of these endless corridors are decorated with the largest bas-reliefs of the world
These marvels continue to fascinate all researchers who study them to try and unravel the mysteries
Angkor means "city" and especially "the capital" So Angkor Wat was the capital at the center of which there was a magnificent temple
And Wat means "temple or monastery" and is thus the city became a monastery
The moat surrounding this together, form a large square among Hindus who represent the primeval ocean
And layout of the towers evoke the Mount MERU, Mounting the legendary home to the Hindu Gods
We here at the heart of a religious monument in the world It's absolutely gigantic buildings extend out of sight
Angkor Wat temple was the mausoleum of one of the greatest kings of Angkor King Soryavarman II (Sun King)
At his death, his ashes should be buried under the heart of central tower Lotus, behind me
Angkor Wat is located in northwestern Cambodia, the current just above the Tonle Sap
When Henry Mouhot discovered the site in 1860
He felt that this set is perhaps the work of a great civilization unknown
But only a handful of monks and villagers living near
And none of them knew how Angkor Wat was developed or who had built
The legend was that the great temple itself is built
Some claimed that he had always existed
In Europe the issue of the Journal of Henri Mouhot sensation
Soon a stream of explorers, archaeologists and photographers eager to decipher the mystery of this vanished world took the route of the Orient
For Henri Mouhot adventure comes to an end. The night after his discovery, a venomous insect bite put forward to his new career
In searching the jungle surrounding the new explorers unearthed an inexplicable amount of all other temples in the region
The walls of these huge monuments were covered with bas-reliefs on the ground complex
Bas-reliefs illustrating the beliefs, legends of a forgotten civilization
Some of these Bas-reliefs were earthenware and had a need for decades of work by artists who had carved up
But these walls also contained inscriptions, the first keys to decipher the mysteries of Angkor
It is a French, George Coedès 1904 to 1966 published the 8 volumes of their translations
Claude Jacques continued since these gigantic work
These inscriptions are in two languages at about the same amount is in Sanskrit and Old Khmer
So the Sanskrit inscriptions are prayers to God prayers for the man who offered donations to the temple
or who built the temple. Because of this, we have precise information the names and dates.
That is why this information is very valuable. This allows for a chronological framework for Angkor
And in Khmer inscriptions are of the notarial giving properties, property of the temple
which explains the number of rice fields that were available to them etc..
As in, they deciphered the inscriptions, the history of Khmer people began to emerge from oblivion
For thousands of years the Khmer had led a quiet life
This agricultural people deciphering forests to plant rice fields that provided their livelihood
But from the first century of small feudal kingdoms were formed throughout the country.
And in the 8th century a great leader emerged who collected these kingdoms
Harassed by pirates from Java who came up the Mekong
He looked for a site to build its new capital
Abandoning his home town he ordered all his subjects to cross the Mekong into a huge exodus to the West
He chose a lush area, located between the hills and sacred Kulen Great Lake Tonle Sap, the Angkor region
In 802 he became king of the devoted king, supreme emperor of the world under the name of Jayavarman
This first absolute monarch had to change the short history of Cambodia
Entries have also allowed the researcher to understand why it was so much remains of temples scattered throughout the jungle
9th to 13th century Angkor 38 kings ruled from this region over a vast empire that stretched from South Vietnam to Laos and the Mekong River in eastern Burma
By accessing the power each building a new temple sometimes a new capital
There was a series of capital at Angkor one substitute another often because of war or of succession for reasons we do not know
The king created a temple to reassure the people's prosperity was a function of the king. Identical with the Hindu culture also
For that the king needs the help of the Gods and so it will build the most beautiful temple of God in a way that its recognition gives him prosperity
This concerns the king and the kingdom ...
But you have powerful enough lords who will do the same thing for their family
That is why there are many temples lines
During the mid-20th century, Cambodia was under French protectorate
It was during this period, we began the initial work for the restoration of the temples of Angkor
When French archaeologists began to recover, there was here in ruins.
Blocks of stone lying around everywhere, it had nothing in common with what we see today
The French have spent incredible amounts of energy to the reconstruction of the temples.
In the 60s, the famous archaeologist Bernard Groslier wrote about Angkor
B. Groslier: "Imagine the heart of an area equivalent to that of the city of Paris ...
B. Groslier: "There are side by side Chateaux de Versailles, Place de la Concorde, the Louvre and around the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, Chartres and Reims flanked by all the churches of Paris irrigated until the 19th century"
The fascination generated these temples is the extent of work to do in difficult conditions, mobilizing all the energies
Since the discovery of Henri Mouhot a century ago, we had learned much about the history of Angkor
But we still knew nothing of the culture that had given rise to such sublime Bas-reliefs
But one day in China, an astonishing document was found.
In 1296 Zhou Daguan (Ta-Kuan), a young Chinese diplomat visited Angkor on official
His stay, which lasted 1 full year, he brought a newspaper
His notes suggest a major civilization, they describe a much wider Capital and developed all these archaeologists had dared to imagine
But how much credence could be given to the writings of Kuan-Ta?
Chou Ta-Kuan was not an ambassador, he came to an extremely modern, he came to "an economic report"
probably on the possibility of Chinese trade with the Kingdom of Angkor
and therefore as the city of Angkor, Ta-Kuan describes a few of Angkor sometimes be deceiving ...
But where Ta-Kuan is very specific economic data on the inhabitants, the productions and those who are likely exported to China and so on.
But the newspaper Ta-Kuan was far from shedding light on the mysteries of Angkor
Because he described many aspects of the life of this unknown civilization, his story seemed to have a lot to imagination
He attributes such as: building the great temple of Angkor Wat a legendary Chinese architect who performs this work in one day
His descriptions were so clearly marked prejudices of the Chinese at the time, systematically using the term "barbarian" to describe his "other"
It was always much celebrated ... Already this is not a newspaper. It's the memories. To be precise, he does not write every day
On the other hand the information he has on Cambodia are very clear from the Chinese community. Angkor is therefore seen as Chinese ...
But for nearly a century the French were almost too busy with the restoration of temples, to go in search of material evidence of the fabulous Angkor city described by Ta-Kuan
In the 70s, the bloody regime of Pol Pot interrupted all work in progress on the Angkor site
The Khmer Rouge implanted thousands of landmines around the site, condemning its access for many years
Today's newfound stability Cambodia has allowed the resumption of research
Angkor is now protecting its heritage and a dozen countries finance the campaign of archaeological excavation
The attention shifted from Angkor Wat to other parts of this huge puzzle
With less than a kilometer north of Angkor Wat is a forum for 12Km long, forming a gigantic square too perfect
Henri Mouhot in 1860 had the intuition that it might be of Angkor Thom, the largest capital of the Khmer
Angkor Wat was the capital of the early 12th century, Angkor Thom, while the late 12th century. Angkor Thom was formed 80 years after Angkor Wat
Angkor Thom means "big capital". Will the king Jayavarman7 was making a spectacular city
At the time 9km ², it is probably the largest capital of the world is a fantastic job