Sunday, September 2, 2007

U.S. Delegation Visits Preah Vihear Temple


U.S. Delegation Visits Preah Vihear Temple

At the recent meeting of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in Christchurch, New Zealand, the Committee recognized that "the Sacred Site of the Temple of Preah Vihear is of great international significance and has Outstanding Universal Value" and agreed "in principle" that the temple should be inscribed in the World Heritage List. The Committee also requested that Cambodia strengthen conservation and management at the site by "making progress in developing an appropriate management plan, which progress will enable its formal inscription by the Committee at its 32nd Session in 2008."
The U.S. fully supports the inscription of Preah Vihear on the World Heritage List, and at the request of the Cambodian government, U.S. Ambassador Joseph A. Mussomeli recently traveled to Preah Vihear, along with a representative of the U.S. State Department's Cultural Heritage Center and other Embassy officials, to try to determine how the U.S. Government might be able to support the Royal Government of Cambodia in its efforts to develop a management plan for Preah Vihear. During the visit, Ambassador Mussomeli expressed his appreciation for the exceptional nature of the site and pledged to discuss Preah Vihear with other U.S. Government representatives during an upcoming trip to Washington.
Preah Vihear, dedicated to Shiva, is situated on a promontory of the Dangrek Range, 547m above the Cambodian Plain. The buildings were constructed in the first half of the 11th century AD and form the most important sanctuary built during the reign of King Suryavarman (1002-50), who seized power at Angkor around 1006. The southern extremity of the promontory juts out to form a natural recess that is a sacred place, commanding a vast panorama.
Like many Cambodian monuments, this sanctuary consists of a succession of courtyards on a common axis (though the north-south axis here is somewhat unusual). The axial plan is 800m long in which gopuras (gateway towers) and streets succeed one another on the way to the temple. To the north, a 54m monumental stairway with 159 steps leads to a 25m long pavement flanked by enormous rampant nagas (snakes). From here three steps reach the first of the five gopuras, which eventually leads to the main sanctuary enclosed by two groups of galleries laid out in a cloister form that foreshadows the "cruciform cloisters" of Angkor Wat.
The principal material of all the buildings at Preah Vihear is sandstone from the site itself. The finest decoration is to be found on the gopuras, many of which are in an excellent state of conservation and clearly visible. The composition of the sculptures on the lintels, pillars, pilasters and elsewhere are varied, complex, highly detailed and harmonious, representing Hindu gods and other religious figures such as Shiva, Vishnu, Indra and Krishna.
Source: Embassy News

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