Bakong is the first temple mountain of sandstone constructed by rulers of the Khmer Empire at Angkor near modern Siem Reap in Cambodia. In the final decades of the 9th century AD, it served as the official state temple of King Indravarman I in the ancient city of Hariharalaya, located in an area called Roluos. The structure of Bakong took the shape of a stepped pyramid, popularly identified as a temple mountain of early Khmer temple architecture. The striking similarity of the Bakong and Borobudur temple in Java, going into architectural details such as the gateways and stairs to the upper terraces, strongly suggests that Borobudur was served as the prototype of Bakong. Therefore, there must have been exchanges of travellers, if not missions, between the Khmer kingdom and the Sailendras in Java. The site of Bakong measures 900 metres by 700 metres and consists of three concentric enclosures separated by two moats, the central axis going from east to west. The outer enclosure has neither a wall nor gopuram, and its boundary is the outer moat, today only partially visible; Siem Reap, Cambodia 2020. Shots were taken with GoPro Hero 7 Black 2.7K downsized to 1080p HD.
2 окт 2024
