- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Thames & Hudson (27 Feb 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0500300542
- ISBN-13: 978-0500300541
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 12.4 x 1.2 cm
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
750,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #67 in Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > South East Asia > Cambodia
- #75 in Books > History > Archaeology > By Region > Asian
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
Cambodia is home to an ancient city. For over five centuries Angkor, ancient seat of the Buddhist god-kings, was the capital of the Khmer empire. Abandoned in the 15th century, this city was swallowed up by the jungle and almost forgotten until, four centuries later, it was uncovered by European explorers. This book traces the origins of these mysterious ruins and tells the story of their rediscovery through documentary photographs, maps and illustrations.
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3 reviews
23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
A Book About Scholarship About Angkor
6 Mar 2000
Format:Paperback
This is an interesting book on the history of research, scholarship, and popular views of Angkor. Unfortunately, there is not much information about the city or culture of Angkor. Thus the book is mistitled. Are the French and other explorers and scholars of Angkor really more important than the ancient Khmer peoples and their accomplishments?
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Discovering ancient ruins
18 Jan 1997
Format:Paperback
Angkor is an ancient Cambodia city, which is mostly
known for its temples with giant smiling faces carved
on them, and banyan trees growing all over them.
This book has a few Chinese accounts of
Angkor when it was still inhabited, but deals mostly with
its discovery by western archeologists, and subsequent
tourism and restoration efforts. The book also has brief
discussions of military campaigns from the colonial period
through the Khmer Rouge, and their impact on the ruins.
There are some nice cross section illustrations of the
temples at Angkor Wat, and many photographs of banyan trees
growing on buildings.
known for its temples with giant smiling faces carved
on them, and banyan trees growing all over them.
This book has a few Chinese accounts of
Angkor when it was still inhabited, but deals mostly with
its discovery by western archeologists, and subsequent
tourism and restoration efforts. The book also has brief
discussions of military campaigns from the colonial period
through the Khmer Rouge, and their impact on the ruins.
There are some nice cross section illustrations of the
temples at Angkor Wat, and many photographs of banyan trees
growing on buildings.
A gorgeously illustrated introduction to Angkor Wat and the Khmer Kingdom
23 Jun 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you're going to visit Cambodia, or if you want to know more about the ancient city of Angkor Wat, you won't go wrong if you first read this small but lavishly illustrated, even gorgeous, book.
It's not, however, a guidebook. Rather it's a readable history of the "discovery" and exploration of the ruins, mostly by 19th and 20th century French explorers, adventurers, scholars, and governors. It presents in full color the best of the impressive drawings, paintings, surveys, maps, lithographs, and photos that they commissioned.
You can piece together the history of the Khmer kingdom and the building of the many temples from the book, but it's by reading what the explorers found and the scholars concluded. The section on Khmer cosmography ("churning of the ocean of milk"), for instance, is brief.
This view of Angkor Wat through foreign eyes (rather than understanding the city and the kingdom on its own terms) is a conceptual shortcoming, yes. There's something of an Indiana Jones feeling to the volume. But since Western visitors encounter a radically different culture and worldview in the ruins, it may be that the author's approach through the eyes of the foreign discoverers -- and early tourists -- works for the traveler who is unlikely to be a specialist.
The final pages of the book provide extensive excerpts from the accounts of the foreign travelers, including the report by Chinese visitor Zhou Daguan ("Chou Ta-kuan") and early Portuguese visitors.
-30-
It's not, however, a guidebook. Rather it's a readable history of the "discovery" and exploration of the ruins, mostly by 19th and 20th century French explorers, adventurers, scholars, and governors. It presents in full color the best of the impressive drawings, paintings, surveys, maps, lithographs, and photos that they commissioned.
You can piece together the history of the Khmer kingdom and the building of the many temples from the book, but it's by reading what the explorers found and the scholars concluded. The section on Khmer cosmography ("churning of the ocean of milk"), for instance, is brief.
This view of Angkor Wat through foreign eyes (rather than understanding the city and the kingdom on its own terms) is a conceptual shortcoming, yes. There's something of an Indiana Jones feeling to the volume. But since Western visitors encounter a radically different culture and worldview in the ruins, it may be that the author's approach through the eyes of the foreign discoverers -- and early tourists -- works for the traveler who is unlikely to be a specialist.
The final pages of the book provide extensive excerpts from the accounts of the foreign travelers, including the report by Chinese visitor Zhou Daguan ("Chou Ta-kuan") and early Portuguese visitors.
-30-
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