Heritage site
Thommanon
Thommanon is a small Brahmanic (Hindu) temple at Angkor, just outside the Victory Gate of Angkor Thom, from the late 11th or first half of the 12th century.[1] It faces its twin, Chau Say Tevoda, across the road of the Small Circuit.[1]
History
Thommanon has no precise date.[1] Maurice Glaize, in his 1944 guide to the Angkor monuments, placed it and Chau Say Tevoda between the Baphuon and Angkor Wat from what survives of their architecture and decoration.[1] He saw the two temples as variations on one plan, which also shapes the center of Beng Mealea and Banteay Samre from the same period.[1]
Thommanon is counted among the "temples d'étape" (staging temples), a group of sanctuaries of similar design built at regular intervals along the road from Angkor to Preah Khan Kampong Svay.[2] Tests on the magnetism of its sandstone blocks have been taken to show that Thommanon and Chau Say Tevoda were built before the rest of the group, though Louise Roche doubted in 2020 that this method alone can date a building.[2] She also noted that the bases of its pilasters combine small narrative scenes with single seated figures, as at Beng Mealea, a feature she placed at the end of the Angkor Wat style.[2]
The temple
Thommanon consists of a sanctuary that opens east onto a long rectangular hall, two gateway pavilions (gopura) of different design on the east and west, and one "library" on the south side.[1] A causeway crosses the moat, and the base of a laterite wall once enclosed an area of about 45 by 60 meters (148 by 197 feet).[1]
The sanctuary tower rises in four upper tiers above a finely carved base 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) high, whose band of foliage is filled with tiny figures. Its corner piers are carved over their whole surface and run unbroken up to the pediments.[1] Three of its sides carry richly carved false doors, which Glaize singled out, along with its stylized female divinities (devata).[1] The sanctuary chamber is 3 meters (10 feet) square, and a linga, an emblem of the god Shiva, 0.95 meters (3.1 feet) high, was found inside. The eastern lintel shows Vishnu riding Garuda.[1]
A small vestibule links the sanctuary to the long hall, 3 by 6 meters (10 by 20 feet) overall, whose roof ends in stone tiles shaped as garudas instead of the usual lotus petals.[1] Its pediments are badly worn. Above the south door, the many-headed, many-armed Ravana shakes the mountain of Shiva, who sits enthroned on top; inside, above the door to the vestibule, a carving shows Valin's fall after his fight with Sugriva.[1]
The eastern gopura has three separate passages and a single upper tier in the form of a barrel vault, with an unfinished east pediment and, on the north, Vishnu holding two enemies by the hair.[1] The western gopura has only a central passage and two windowless wings. Glaize admired the purity of its lines and its fine detail on plain grounds. Its west pediment shows Vishnu on Garuda fighting the Asuras (demons), and small lions finish its vaults.[1] The library has a false upper story with walled-in windows and opens west through a small porch.[1]
Restoration
Henri Marchal cleared Thommanon in 1919 and 1920 and again from 1925 to 1927.[1] From 1961 to 1966 Bernard-Philippe Groslier rebuilt the western gopura by anastylosis, taking it apart and setting it up again with its original stones.[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 1.15 1.16 Angkor Database, Maurice Glaize, The Monuments of the Angkor Group (1944; English translation of the fourth French edition)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 HAL, Louise Roche, Le sanctuaire de Banteay Samrae à Angkor : une fondation bouddhique du règne de Tribhuvanādityavarman, Arts Asiatiques 75 (2020; in French)