I am currently staying in the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. A developing and bustling city at the riverside of Mekong River, a river that blazes Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia, one of world’s longest and most famous rivers. Over 300 km northwards of Phnom Penh, there’s an ancient and grand building, world’s most famous temple, the Angkor Wat, which was built by the Khmer Kingdom in the early 1200’s. It is the beacon of Cambodia’s might and prosperity in the past. Under the Khmer Rouge regime in 1975-1975, this temple survived amid Pol Pot’s effort to demolish cultural, educational, and religious activities.
Angkor Wat became so famous after it was ”freely” promoted by the AMAZING RACE ASIA, and was frequently spotted in Tomb Raider the movie. After that, many many international media came and reported its grandness, preserved as it’d been. Every year, over a million foreign tourist visit the site, which means a sum of forex reserve added to Cambodia’s possession.
- Borobudur, biggest Buddhist temple on earth
- Largest Hindus temple in Indonesia
However, not so many people know that Angkor Wat was built far later than Indonesia’s two prominent temple, Borobudur (Buddhist temple), and Prambanan (Hindus temple). Borobudur was started to be built in 750 AD and was fully completed in 825, while Prambanan was done 25 years after that, or over 300 years before Angkor Wat was built. I am sure, with better promotion, better governance, better arrangement, Borobudur and Prambanan will take over Angkor Wat as world’s most famous temple.
Popularity: 15% [?]
Fereisa
1 year ago
Yes, I agree that Borobudur & Prambanan receive very little publications. It could have been better. Probably the ministry of tourism should be more proactive in motivating tour agencies to promote tour packages which cover both Borobudur and Prambanan during those times when they have the Borobudur festival.
Khmer
1 month ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candi_Plaosan says One traditional example is carved representation of a Khmer prince and is identified by his crown. Sailendra means “King of the Mountain”. The first Khmer state was called Nokor Phnom aka Funan in Chinese or The Kingdom of the Mountain. Funan had a sister state called Land Chenla. Both the royal families of Funan and Land Chenla were related. History shows that while the King Father ruled Funan, the King Son ruled Land Chenla. Land Chenla was actually a breakaway state of the Kingdom of Funan. However, when Funan fell into ruin caused by internal forces, the ruling royal authority of Land Chenla assumed control of Funan and reunited it with Land Chenla. However, insteading of cooperating with their related ruling royal family of Chenla, some of the Funan’s royal family members fled to Java (present-day Indonesia) to establish a new dynasty called the Sailendras. Two of the most glorious Angkorian Kings came from the court of the Sailendras. One was named Jayvarman II who liberated Kambujeseda from the rule of Java, and another one was Jayvarman VII who liberated the Kambujeseda from the Chams.
In Java, the Sailendras built the first great Buddhist temple complex called the Borobudur. Borobudur was said to influence the construction of Angkor Wat in the Khmer Empire. The Sailendra kingdom encompassed the eastern two-thirds of Java, Bali, Lombok, coastal areas of Kalimantan, and southern Sulawesi.
The Sailendra Dynasty was challenged and ended by the Sanjaya Dynasty of Java. The last defeated king of the Sailendra Dynasty was Balaputra who ruled Sri Vijaya. As a result, “the line fo the Funan royal family was continued and still exists today in the blood of the various royal families of Java, Sumatra and Malaysia.”
Chivan
2 days ago
In fact Prambanan was founded by the Sailendra but built by the Sanjaya.
There was no proof that Khmer King Jayavarman II can liberate Chenla from the Sailendra but because Khmer King Jayavarman II was a royal family mixed blood with Funan, Chenla and Sailendra that the King was able to bring both religion Buddhism of Funan and Hindu of Chenla to become one Khmer Empire without trouble.