Banteaysrei, also known as Banteaysrei Temple, is located in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, about 25 kilometers away from the famous Angkor City. It is one of the three major temples in Cambodia and is known as the "Pearl of Angkor Monuments". It was built in the 10th century AD during the reign of King Jayavarman V and completed in 1002.

The temple is made of vermilion sandstone and is full of exquisite reliefs. It is known as the "Gem of Angkor Art". It is smaller in scale and size than other Angkor monuments, and is generally believed to be the origin of the name "Women's Castle".

Banteay Srei is famous for its bright colors and exquisite reliefs. It is one of the most unique and exquisite buildings in Angkor. Banteay Srei means "women's castle" and it is speculated that it was built and carved by women. This may be because the carvings here are too exquisite to be made by men.

There are also some doubts about its construction date. Some scholars believe that such superb craftsmanship far exceeds the level of other 10th-century buildings, and it is more like a work from the 13th-14th century.

The Queen's Palace is not large in scale, but a moat is also dug around it. The existing main buildings include three central towers and a large library, and all the exterior walls are covered with exquisite carvings. The Queen's Palace is the first building to be successfully restored using the "original restoration" method, which was later widely used in the restoration of other monuments in Angkor Wat.

Tip: Given its extremely vivid colors, the best time to photograph the Queen's Palace is between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 and 5:00 p.m.

But the best time in the morning is always crowded with tour groups, so if you go in the morning, arrive about an hour in advance. You should avoid this place on a sunny noon, as walking through the uncovered red sandstone buildings will feel as hot as being roasted on a charcoal fire.

According to the inscription, the Queen's Palace was built in 967 AD and completed during the reign of Jayavarman V of the Angkor Dynasty (968-1001 AD). Formerly known as the "Shiva Palace", the middle of the three towers is dedicated to Shiva.

The Queen's Palace faces east and is 200 meters long and 100 meters wide. It has three layers of red sandstone walls inside and outside, and is about 50 meters from the main gate to the middle gate. Two rows of symmetrical red stone pillars more than 2 meters high stand on both sides of the avenue. There are three stone arches in the east of the second wall. There is a bamboo-shaped stone pillar and a carved stone pillar on each side of the middle gate, and a mountain-shaped door lintel on top.

There are many warriors carved on it, describing a story about war. There are also three arches on the east side of the third wall, and the middle arch also has carved door pillars and double-layer mountain-shaped door lintels. There are two windows between the arches, and each window is inlaid with five bamboo-shaped window lattices. Behind the stone gate is the central part of the Queen's Palace, where three vermilion bell-shaped temple towers are connected by a huge stone foundation.

There are symmetrical side halls on both sides, as well as stone platforms and stone screens. All buildings are carved with various patterns and paintings. Three parallel temple towers are built on a platform more than 1 meter high. Each tower has a door in the east, south and north, each door is only 1.2 meters high, and there are 7 Naga snakes on the door with their heads raised to guard. All pilgrims must bend down and kneel before entering.

There is a pair of stone guardian gods in front of each door, and reliefs of warriors holding spears and fairies wearing necklaces are on the walls on both sides. Among the three bell-shaped temple towers, the middle one is the tallest, about 10 meters, and it is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The one in the south is dedicated to Lord Brahma, and the one in the north is dedicated to Lord Vishnu.

The pagoda is five stories high. Each story is decorated with various statues of gods, demons and demons in different shapes. The base of the pagoda and the shrines and gatehouses on both sides are also covered with reliefs of various shapes and forms, most of which record the life of the ancient Khmer people and the battle scenes against foreign invasions. On a huge shrine on the right side of the middle pagoda, a stone sculpture of "War Elephant Picture" is completely preserved.

This picture reproduces the battle scene of the Khmer people resisting foreign invasion on the stone wall. In front of each door of the temple tower, there is a pair of stone guardian lions, holding weapons in their right hands. Their left hands are on their kneeling left knees, and their right legs are half-squatting. Some of their heads are like beasts, and some are like ghosts. They look fierce and brave, and are the guardians of the three major gods of Brahmanism.

The goddess on the relief of the Banteay Srei was built in 967 AD. It was the only major temple in Angkor that was not built by the king at that time. It was built by Yajnavaraha, a minister of King Rajendravarman.

According to the foundation stone, Yajnyavaraha was a scholar and a philanthropist who helped people from illness, injustice or poverty. The area around the temple was originally a town called Isvarapura.

The Queen's Palace is mainly dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Its original name was tribhuvanamahesvara - the ruler of the three worlds - that is, the main god Shiva it worships. However, the building of the Queen's Palace now seems to be divided into two parts: the part south of the east-west axis is dedicated to Shiva, and the building to the north is dedicated to Vishnu.

The temple's current name, "Banteay Srei", may come from the delicate reliefs on the walls and the small size of the building. Some people also speculate that the name comes from the goddess on the relief.

The Queen's Palace has a neat and harmonious layout, a unique shape and a unique style. The entire palace and its walls are built with vermilion sandstone, some of which weigh several tons.

There are two theories about the origin of the name of Queen's Palace. One theory is that it was built by a woman, because each stone is carved with exquisite patterns and each stone statue is very ingenious and lifelike. Only a clever woman can create such exquisite works of art.

Another theory is that this is a palace where concubines lived. During the Angkor Dynasty, Cambodia often went to war with neighboring countries, so palaces were built far away from the Angkor Royal City to hide the concubines during the war.

Banteay Srei was further expanded and remodeled in the 11th century. The king was in control of the renovations to some extent; according to a 12th-century inscription, Banteay Srei was given to the monk divarakapandita and dedicated to Shiva.

The Banteay Srei was not discovered by Westerners until 1914. In 1923, French writer Malraux stole four statues of goddesses from the Banteay Srei, which caused a sensation. Malraux was arrested soon after, and the stolen statues were sent back to Cambodia.

This event sparked interest in the Queen's Palace, which was subsequently cleaned up and restored in the 1930s using the original restoration method for the first time. People initially speculated that the Queen's Palace was built later based on its exquisite reliefs, but this assumption was overturned after the foundation stone was discovered in 1936.

Between 2000 and 2003, a Cambodian-Swiss conservation project installed a drainage system to protect the building from rainwater. Some measures were also taken to prevent the building from being damaged by the surrounding trees. Unfortunately, however, the Banteay Srei Palace has been damaged by cultural relics theft.

In the late 20th century, Cambodian authorities removed some of the original statues and replaced them with replicas, and thieves turned their attention to replicas. A statue of Shiva and his female incarnation Uma from the Banteay Srei Palace was moved to the National Museum in Phnom Penh for protection, but was damaged inside the museum.

Materials: Unlike the blue sandstone used in most Angkor monuments, the Queen's Palace is built with red clay, which is unique to Cambodia and has extremely bright colors. Red clay containing a lot of water is not only convenient for transportation and construction, but also conducive to carving complex and delicate patterns. After the building is built, it becomes extremely hard after being air-dried and will not break for thousands of years.

Reliefs: The walls, pillars, lintels and other architectural surfaces of the Queen's Palace are almost completely covered with reliefs, without any gaps. The reliefs of the Queen's Palace are smooth and delicate, with complex and rounded shapes, delicate and soft lines, and bright and charming colors. They are second to none among all Angkor reliefs and are known as the "diamond of Angkor art."

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

The Absalom is elegant and is as famous as the Absalom relief at Angkor Wat. Edit this section Building materials and style The Queen's Palace in Qubelo uses a lot of red sandstone as a building material, which can be carved like wood. Bricks and alumina are only used for walls and some structural elements. The most famous is its exquisite sandstone lintel and pediment.

The pediment stands on the square door frame. The pediment of the Queen's Palace is particularly large and majestic compared to the door frame. In the history of Khmer architecture, the Queen's Palace is the first to carve mythological stories on the pediment. The lintel spans between two doorposts, some of which are used to support the structure above, and some are purely for decoration.

The lintels of the Queen's Palace are decorated with exquisite reliefs, which are comparable to the 9th-century carvings of the Temple of the Bull. The reliefs worth looking at include the grinning monster Kala (a symbol of time), the temple guards, the goddesses and flying apsaras, the false doors and windows, etc. In fact, the reliefs decorate almost every inch of the building's surface. Edit this section of the building layout.

The gabled wall of the gate of Banteay Srei, like most Khmer temples, faces east. Entering the easternmost gopura, you can see a 67-meter-long paved road leading to the main building complex of Banteay Srei. The main building complex is surrounded by three-story courtyards (enclosures).

The temple is located in the innermost courtyard, and there are two small buildings, commonly called libraries, to the northeast and southeast of the temple.

The Queen's Palace was originally outside the existing three-story courtyard, and there was another wall separating the temple from the town. Only the arch (the easternmost Qubu Luo) of this outer wall remains, which was probably built of wood. It is believed that according to this wall, the area of ​​the Queen's Palace was about 500 square meters.

The pediment of the gate is carved with Indra, the guardian of the East in Hinduism, sitting on a three-headed white elephant. (To be continued...)