高棉寺庙 | Khmer Wats

柬埔寨的高棉寺庙有什么好看？就是去看精美的Bas-relief咯。这样说不但可以秀你的知识，还可以秀你的法文。要在墙壁上雕塑只用两种方法，一就是让图案凸出来，即为浮雕（Relief）；二就是让图案凹进去，即为阴雕或凹雕（Intaglio）。浮雕还可以再分为低浮雕（Bas-relief）和高浮雕（Alto-relievo）。好了，现在是时候欣赏古代高棉建筑艺术了。

What's so interesting about Cambodian Khmer Wats? Well, it's about master piece of Bas-relief. Answering like that can definitely show your knowledge. LOL. There are only two ways to make wall sculpture, either by carving it convexly or concavely. The former one is known as "relief", which means carving in relief; and the latter one is known as "intaglio", which means incised carving. Relief can be further classified into low-relief (Bas-relief) and high-relief (Alto-relievo). With this quick piece of knowledge, it's time to appreciate the ancient Khmer architecture.

在过去那段长达六百年的辉煌时期，高棉民族建造了多不胜数的寺庙，其中闻名遐迩的就是吴哥窟，以致于其他的寺庙都被统称为“吴哥窟群”。在暹粒省的三天里，我们参观了大约十间寺庙，很坦白说在参观了五六间后大家都看得有点意兴阑珊，仿佛当晚一旦发噩梦最恐怖的莫过于反复被人载去看寺庙。但有审美疲劳不代表审的不是美，所以在这里我还是尝试描绘出每间寺庙的特色吧。

During that glorious period that lasted for about 600 years, the peoples of Khmer had constructed numerous Wats. Among them, Angkor Wat is the most prominent one to the extent that the whole area is called "Angkor National Park". In the three days at Siam Reap, we had visited about ten Wats, and were feeling the diminishing return after visiting 5 to 6 Wats, as if the worst possible nightmare we could have that night was to visit Wat and Wat and Wat and ... Anyway, I will try to outline their unique beauties here.

Oriented to the east.
Flat vs "temple-pyramid"


Angkor Wat "City Temple"
Preah Khan "Sacred Sword"
Neak Pean "The Entwined Serpents"
Bayon - Multitude of serene and massive stone faces, "face towers"
Pre Rup -
Ta Prohm - "Ancestor Brahma"
Ta Som -