Phimai historical park

Historical Park Phimai ( Thai: อุทยาน ประวัติศาสตร์ พิมาย, pronounced: [ ʡùta -ya ː n prà Wat sà ː t p ʰ Imai ] ) includes the ruins of Phimai, an ancient city with a temple district of the Khmer Empire of Angkor. It is located in the northeast region of Thailand Phimai district of Nakhon Ratchasima.

Importance

The city itself is under the name Vimai or Vimayapura ( "The city Vimais " ) was founded by the Khmer. It was fortified in the 11th century and developed into a spiritual center of the Khmer Empire.

In an inscription from the year 1082 in the Prasat Hin Phanom Wan not far south of Phimai, which is written in Sanskrit and in Khmer, the city, together with the King Jayavarman VI. mentioned. About a century later, Phimai is described in the inscription of Preah Khan as the end point of a 225 km long road that connected the Phimai with the capital Angkor. As the Chinese Ambassador Zhou Daguan (also Chou Ta - Kuan ) stayed from 1296 to 1297 in Angkor, he wrote a detailed report in which he mentioned P'u -mai as one of 90 provinces of the Khmer Empire.

Geography

Phimai was built on a naturally protected location where the Maenam Mun ( Mun River ) makes a sharp bend to the south and the Chakrai Canal ( Khlong Chakrai ) opens. Here the country is a little elevated and surrounded on three sides by water. The country not only offers plenty of room for a temple, but also for a settlement. East of the city Baray was created, the "Sa Pleng ".

The whole complex is oriented to the south, with a slight deviation to the south-southeast. Historians attribute this deviation back to the turn to Angkor. One enters the city through the main gate in the south, which is called Pratu Chai ( ประตูชัย, Victory Gate ) and was only recently renovated by the " Fine Arts Department ." It is so high that I could get through it riding on an elephant. Other gates are located in the northern and western city wall, which encloses a rectangular area of 655 meters wide and 1033 meters long. An Eastern Gate and the eastern city wall are not present, they have probably been eroded by the Mun River. The city walls and gates were built in the reign of King Jayavarman VII.

The temple district of Phimai is so like that of Angkor Wat applied concentric: the inner area is a rectangle of 83 meters x 74 meters. It is offset from the center of the outer region of slightly to the north. This has a size of 274 x 220 meters. The outer region is also offset from the center of the third area from the north and is bounded by the city walls. If one adds the moat, which was created before the city walls and was fed by the Mun River, and the four ponds of the inner region, it turns the entire system on an ambitious model of the universe is: several mountain ranges and oceans surround the center of the world, Mount Meru.

Restoration

The first written records of the plant were built in 1901 by French geographer Etienne Aymonier. Since the publication in the Government Gazette ( Volume 53, Section 34) on 27 September 1936, the area is under the protection of the Thai government. In the 1950s began with the restoration. The technical preliminary investigations were carried out by Bernard Philippe Groslier, who had considerable experience through his conservation work on Angkor Wat. Under the leadership of Prince Yachai Chitrabongse the area from 1964 to 1969 was restored by the Thai " Fine Arts Department ." April 12, 1989 Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to " Phimai Historical Park " was finally able to open.

The main sanctuary

Window in the gallery, which surrounds the temple

Interior view of the Prang Brahmadat with replica of a statue of Jayavarman VII