Heritage site
Prasat Suor Prat
Prasat Suor Prat is a row of twelve towers of laterite and sandstone on the east side of the royal square of Angkor Thom, built under King Jayavarman VII.[1] The name means "the towers of the tightrope dancers". It comes from a local belief that a high wire was once stretched between the towers for acrobats at festivals.[1] The towers are set out evenly on both sides of the start of the road to the Victory Gate.[1]
History
The towers date from the late 12th century, in the reign of Jayavarman VII.[1] Dominique Soutif and Julia Estève note that four laterite towers at Preah Khan of Kompong Svay resemble the architecture of Prasat Suor Prat. Citing Mauger, they add that one of the lintels there belongs to a period between the Angkor Wat and Bayon styles. On this evidence they date those towers to the second half of the 12th century.[2] Their purpose is unknown. Maurice Glaize, in his guide to the Angkor monuments, judged the story behind their name probably beside the point. He gave the religion of the towers as Brahmanic, linked with the god Vishnu.[1]
The Chinese envoy Tcheou Ta-Kouan wrote: "In front of the palace there are twelve small stone towers."[1] In his account, two men in a dispute each sat in one of the towers while their families kept watch below. After three or four days, the one in the wrong fell ill, with ulcers, a cold or a fever, while the other stayed well. This was called a judgment of heaven.[1] Glaize found this explanation colorful but hardly enough. The towers do not follow the usual form of a sanctuary, because three of their sides have balustered windows, yet several statues were found in them during clearing.[1]
Jean Commaille, the first conservator of Angkor, cleared the site in 1908. His successor, Henri Marchal, cleared it again in 1919 and 1920. The fourth tower was restored in 1955 and 1956.[1] The Japanese Government for the Safeguarding of Angkor (JSA) began its program at Angkor in November 1995. Its program included the restoration of tower N1 of the group.[3] The International Co-ordinating Committee for Angkor (ICC-Angkor) wrote that the JSA's excavations at Prasat Suor Prat, together with research by the École française d'Extrême-Orient, were "radically changing" what is known of the ancient layout of the city of Angkor Thom.[3]
Architecture
The towers are square in plan and built of laterite. Each has two upper tiers, and the top tier is roofed with a barrel vault with a gable at each end. The interiors are roughly finished.[1] Only the door and window frames, the lintels and the pediments are of sandstone. They were left in rough form. A few pediments carry the outline of serpent (naga) curves on flame-like leaves, with leafy scrolls and the small lions typical of the 12th century. No trace of plaster survives.[1] Glaize found that the group gives an impression of being unfinished, which is usual only in later buildings. Roof ornaments carved with ascetics or nagas have been found in several places.[1]
The doors open toward the royal terrace and the road to the Victory Gate. They lie lower than the floors inside, and a raised bank, built later along the length of the square, partly blocks them.[1]
Surroundings
Beside the road to the Victory Gate, in a corner formed by the towers, lies a pool of 80 by 60 meters (260 by 200 feet) edged with steps. Behind the southern towers is a Buddhist terrace, altered to hold the large statue known as the "Buddha-King". That statue was found in 1933 in the central well of the Bayon.[1] The two long sandstone buildings called the Kleangs stand just behind the towers and run along the length of the square.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 Angkor Database, Maurice Glaize, The Monuments of the Angkor Group (1944; English translation of the fourth French edition)
- ↑ HAL, Dominique Soutif and Julia Estève, Texts and Objects: Exploiting the Literary Sources of Medieval Cambodia, chapter 2 of The Angkorian World (Routledge, 2023)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 ICC-Angkor, 20 Years of International Cooperation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (undated)