Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c43.39

c43.39

With the long reign of Jayavarman's successor Suryavarman I, who ruled the empire for nearly the whole of the first half of the eleventh century, the foundations of the building art of the Khmers were well and truly laid, so that this century may be said to denote the Foundational Phase of the Classical Period. During this king's reign the city of Angkor Thom, the existing capital, was planned and built, an undertaking of great significance in the history of architecture in Cambodia. The establishment of this imperial seat of the Khmers on such a permanent basis, with its walls 22 ft. high having a perimeter of 7½ miles, containing magnificent buildings grouped around the pyramidal temple of Baphuon, was in itself a notable achievement, and not unlike other royal enterprises it had the effect of stimulating the architectural ambitions of the people to a remarkable degree. For the remains of buildings of note dating from this period within the vicinity of Angkor are in themselves sufficient to establish the artistic reputation of any people and any age These are however only a portion of the whole, for distributed with a lavish hand over a large part of the peninsula of Indo-China, a number approaching a thousand structures of note has been listed, either examples of the building art of the Khmers or of a character associating them with that style Such a wide extent of low-lying country over which these buildings were dispersed naturally led to a system of built-up causeways with ornamental bridges and other means of direct communication, paved throughout not unlike those of the Romans, which with canals, waterways and other irrigational projects indicate that the Khmers were possessed of no little engineering knowledge and experience, while they also postulate that Cambodia teemed with active life and had attained a civilization of a standard unknown at the present time It is not however certain that all this building construction and these technical and mechanical enterprises of works of public utility relate to the eleventh century only, but it is not improbable that they were largely inspired by Suryavarman with his conception of an imperial capital worthy of the empire and the aspirations of the people he ruled The grand scale of the city is a proof that this monarch was gifted with preception, great ideas, and resources sufficient to enable his plans to be materialized Apart from the dimensions mentioned above, the Cambodian capital was surrounded by a moat 300 feet wide over which were thrown five bridges connecting with the five entrance gates, the most imposing of which, the Gate of Victory, cruciform in plan, led to the Palace a large building confronted with an extensive enclosure, the terraced walls sculptured with figures of elephants Another great structure was the pyramidal temple of Phimeanakas its elevational effect being produced by a series of ascending terraces which together with other structures all in the impressive architectural styles of the time, each made a notable contribution to this vast imperial undertaking.