Wolfgang's photos with the keyword: Prasat Phra Vihaan

I'm still working on the edition of each photo and its description. I still need some time to complete this task. My hours to do this are limited. Please have patience and give me some weeks to finish my album - thanks. Please bear with me!

Nāga stairways are causeways or true steps lined by stone balustrades shaped as nāgas. In some Angkorian nāga-ways, as for example those located at the entrances to 12th century city of Angkor Thom, the nāga-shaped balustrades are supported not by simple posts but by stone statues of gigantic warriors. These giants are the devas and asuras who used the nāga king Vasuki in order to the churn the Ocean of Milk in quest of the amrita or elixir of immortality. In Mueang Boran its reconstructed the Nāga stairways three times smaller than the original one in the Khmer province Praeh Vihaer. My album about the original temple complex is https://www.ipernity.com/doc/wolfgang-pfriemer/album/54056?from=1656305&at=1206451584

Prasat Phra Wihan (Preah Vihear) stands on the summit of Phra Wihan Hill, on the edge of the south face of the Phanom Dong Rak Range escarpment on the Thai-Cambodian border, Si Sa Ket Province. This stone sanctuary was built in the reign of King Suryavarman I around 1038 A.D. As for the architectural style, beginning from the depression at the foot of the hill slope and moving up to the hill, one passes through a series of 4 groups of stone structures established at different levels. My album about the original temple complex is https://www.ipernity.com/doc/wolfgang-pfriemer/album/54056?from=1656305&at=1206451584

This temple complex surely is the best reconstruction of the original place of culture which has every ben made. But it also should get in Thai's minds that its Khmer culture and their soul, Thailand should have respect about the Cambodian culture and find a solution how to arrange and finish the present dispute at the original place. My album about the original temple complex is https://www.ipernity.com/doc/wolfgang-pfriemer/album/54056?from=1656305&at=1206451584

This photo shows the comparison of the building size. The artificial hill of Preah Vihear is about one-tenth of its original size while the prasat is smaller than its original size by half. On the top of Khao Phra Wihan provides an excellent scenary of Muang Boran.

Gopura or also called Gopuram is a rising tower at the entrance of an hindu temple. Gopuras are exquisitely decorated with sculpture and carvings with a variety of themes derived from the Hindu mythology, particularly those associated with the presiding deity of the temple of which a particular gopura is.

In a Cambodian legend, the Nāga were a reptilian race of beings who possessed a large empire or kingdom in the Pacific Ocean region. The Nāga King's daughter married an Indian Brahmana named Kaundinya, and from their union sprang the Cambodian people. Therefore still Cambodians say that they are "Born from the Nāga".

The artificial hill of Preah Vihear is about one-tenth of its original size while the prasat is smaller than its original size by half. On the top of Khao Phra Wihan provides an excellent scenary of Muang Boran.

Khao Phra Wihan at Muang Boran is an artificial hill with 54 meters high, 66 meters wide and 250 meters of hill slope. 684 pillars have been used to shore up the hill, 2,400 truckloads of rockfill were used to create the lofty hill. 40 rai of land mass was dug up for topsoil to cover the hill slope.

All buildings have gable roofs, not the spired pyramid roofs of palace structures. It would be more correct to call the ruins monthien. The crest of the hill is a slab of stone projecting out over the cliff face. A short path leads down to the natural rock shelter underneath the overhanging stone. The rock shelter is called, Poei Ta Di. Preah Vihear now belongs to Kingdom of Cambodia. In the geographical aspect, Prasat Phra Wihan stands within the Thai boundary because all small streams that come from the top of the hill run down directly into the Mun River in north east ern Thailand. Also, from the Thai border, Prasat Phra Wihan is more easily accessed than from Cambodia. The local people in the Northeast normally walk up by the streams to the summit of the hill while the Cambodians have to climb up broken staircases which are too steep to climb up comfortably.

The temple gives its name to Cambodia's Preah Vihear province, in which it is now located, as well as the Khao Phra Wihan National Park which borders it in Thailand's Sri Saket province and through which the temple is most easily accessible. On 7th of July 2008, the original temple complex Phra Wihan was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.