Prasat Suor Prat

Prasat Suor Prat is the name of a series of twelve towers in Angkor Thom near the town of Siem Reap ( Cambodia).

Plant

A pointing in the cardinal directions Cross street is divided Angkor Thom, the "Great Capital" of the historical Angkorreichs, into quarters. Just in the northwestern district is the Terrace of the Elephants. Opposite - on the other side of the north -south axis and parallel to this - there is a chain of twelve towers are located right: Prasat Suor Prat. The centrally located between the Terrace of the Elephants and the twelve towers from the Grand Place, a path leads directly to the east, so that six towers north, six south of Victory Boulevard so-called stand. Only the two towers flanking the Siegesallee are not exactly on axis with the other, but are offset slightly to the east.

Architecture

Historians date the built of laterite and sandstone, three stories seemingly, ending in gables towers on the end of the 12th to mid-13th century. The floor plans are square. The gates facing west, and are provided with small porches. Are each large open window, not bill gates, as it was usual for Prasat ( towers) on the remaining walls; the building soft stylistically so much better than can shrines from.

Function

The modern Khmer Prasat Suor Prat - name ( "Towers of acrobats " ) is, according to Zieger misleading, according to Freeman and Jacques clearly nonsensical (see below references). The original function of the building is unclear; maybe it was Lingas containing Shiva shrines. The Chinese diplomat Zhou Daguan (13th century) saw them as places of jurisdiction. He wrote that the counterparty would be one to three days remain in separate towers, guarded by members of their families; then one of them was sick and therefore guilty, while the other would remain healthy. For historians this explanation sounds hardly credible than the tightrope hypothesis.