It has taken half a century, but archaeologists in Cambodia have finally completed the renovation of the ancient Angkor temple described as the world’s largest three dimensional puzzle. French architect Pascal Royere from the Ecole francaise d’Extreme-Orient (EFEO) (Pictured in the last image) is the chief architect of the restoration project.
The Baphuon temple is in Siem Reap province, some 300 kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh. Both local and foreign tourists walk about and explore the ancient building.The Baphuon temple was built by King Udayadityavarman II in the 11th century. It is located within Angkor Thom, near the Royal Palace. In fact, when the Baphuon was built, there was no Angkor Thom yet. At the time of its completion in 1060, the Baphuon was the largest temple of its time, surpassed only when Angkor Wat was built a century later. The walls of Angkor Thom was also built much later, with the Bayon temple added in around then.
The Baphuon is the temple that restorers from EFEO (École Française d'Extrême Orient) dismantled and now, are having difficulties putting the pieces back together again. It was not completely their fault.
The Baphuon was in a poor condition to begin with. Even in ancient times, some effort was made to restore it when part of the temple collapsed into itself due to its massive weight and to rain that filter through its stones.
The team from EFEO had intended to restore it the same as was done for another ancient monument, the Borobudur. This technique, called anastylosis, was carried out successfully on another Angkor temple, the Banteay Srei.The Cambodian civil war broke out soon after the dismantling. As a result, the restorers were banished from the country and many of their local assistants were killed. When war ended and the EFEO restorers under the leadership of Pascal Royere were allowed back, they found that all the documents relating to the dismantling of the Baphuon had been destroyed. As a result of that, they had to piece together 300,000 pieces of this monumental jigsaw puzzle. At first, they tried to use a computer programme to make sense of this big jumble. That proved unproductive, so ultimately they relied on their own judgement. The Baphuon is built as a temple mountain to symbolise Mount Meru. Its rectangular sandstone walls measure 425 m by 125 m (1394 ft by 410 ft). Like most Angkor temples, Baphuon's main entrance is on the east. There is a 200 m (656 ft) long causeway supported by three rows of short, round columns forming a bridge to the main temple. To get a superb view of the four-faced tower of Bayon framed against the doorway of the Baphuon, as you walk along the approach, turn left at the east gopura and walk to the end of the gallery. A central prasat, or tower shrine, once crowned the top of the Baphuon, but it has collapsed long time ago. Baphuon is built on a rectangular sandstone base of five diminishing tiers, rather like a step pyramid. The first, second and third levels are surrounded by concentric sandstone galleries.
