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| Thommaon & Chau Say
Tevoda |
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“from the best
period of classic art” |
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Leaving Angkor Thom by the Victory gate, in just 500 metres one finds on either side of the road the two charming temples of Thommanon to the left and Chau Say Tevoda to the right, both from xi - xii c. the best period of the classic Angkorian art.
Modelled from Wat Phu, an Angkorian temple today in Laos, Thommanon probably stands above a Bronze Age burial site. Crossing the now dry moat, one passes the remains of the laterite enclosure wall, the complex is composed of the sanctuary tower with a rectangular long room both on a high base plinth, the east and west gopuras and, on the south side, the single ‘library’.
Thommanon |
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The tower has a cruciform plant, one door opens to east while the other three are fine false doors. The highly stylized devatas are remarkable. To the east the corbel-vaulted long room with false upper storey is almost joined to the tower. The fronton above the southern door shows Ravana with multiple heads and arms trying to shake the mountain where Shiva is enthroned.
The eastern gopura is almost connected with the long room. The gopura has a central tower and three independent passageways.
On a base plinth the “library” has a similar in same style.
The western gopura has only a central passage and two wings without windows, it differs from the other buildings by the absolute purity of its lines.
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Chau Say Tevoda
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Only partially restored, Chau Say Tevoda temple has the same plan, but with four gopuras and two ‘libraries’. We enter the site from the north gopura. The main shrine is built on a platform, the tower has retained only a part of its four tiers with remarkable decoration covering every available space with devatas in niches. The long room of the main shrine, with collapsed vault, is linked with the eastern gopura by means of a pathway raised on columns. From the eastern gopura a raised causeway leads to the nearby river.
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