#AngThom

2025-04-24
The reclining lord Buddha @ Preah Ang Thom

This 8-meter-long statue of a reclining buddha is the largest in Cambodia and among the 10 largest in Asia.
It rests on top of a sandstone formation and the statue is carved out where it is. Meaning someone saw the buddha in the stone and carved until he was set free.
The surrounding Preah Ang Thom temple was built after the Buddha was carved.
Kulen Mountain was the place where the first Khmer prince declared the establishment of the Khmer Empire in 802. The Khmer prince Jayavarman II declared himself chakravartin (lit. 'universal ruler') and by that claimed imperium as a god king ruling an Empire.
The empire lasted for over 630 years.
Getting to this site is fast and easy from Siem Reap, and the area carries a lot of other excursion worthy sites, including trails for the day trip trekker.
The conglomerate of holy sites on the Kulen Mountain was proposed as an official World Cultural Heritage site by Cambodia just before the pandemic started. An approval of this request seems proper, this is the national mountains and cradle of Khmer culture and empire after all.

https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6460/

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Photo shows the top part and head of a reclining Buddha-statue. The figure is resting on its left arm with eyes closed. The stone crop it is a part of and carved out of is clearly visible. A small offer of rolled together clothing with some money notes is placed as a headrest. The photo shows the whole figure ten meter down to its feet in perspective from the top head. From the statues armpit to its leg there is a narrow shelf between statue and stone, where a range of smaller Buddha statues in sitting pose and different colours are placed. The roof and walls of the building built over the statue is richly and colourful decorated with scenes from the first Buddhas life.

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