 |
CAPTION |
|
The person who nicknamed Banteay Srei “The Pink Temple” should be read (red) to filth as being either colourblind, or be praised for having the extreme farsightedness to troll a generation of millenials obsessed with seeking out yet another “Peggy Porschen pink” landmark for their carefully colour-curated Instagram feed. A more likely explanation is that Banteay Srei’s nickname was derived from the red sandstone - now faded by centuries of exposure - it is constructed from.
Like the fairer sex it was named after (Banteay Srei can be translated as ‘Citadel of the Women’), red sandstone is a soft and yielding medium, which lends itself very well to carving. For this reason, Banteay Srei is embellished with more detailed carvings and sculptures than other temples in Angkor. The red sandstone walls are filled with intricate bas relief carvings of devatas - female deities - and leaf motifs, lending another nickname for Banteay Srei: ‘Citadel of Beauty’. This level of detail is especially amazing given the scale of the structures: unlike the mammoth monuments of Angkor, such as Bayon and Angkor Wat, the buildings of Banteay Srei are in miniature. Walking through a city of tiny temples, libraries, and galleries, the effect is that of Gulliver in Lilliput.
For the reasons of its exceptional intricacy, dollhouse-like scale, feminine motives, and distinct not-quite-pink-but-I’ll-let-it-slide colour; Banteay Srei is a bijou little gem of a temple, widely praised as a “jewel of Khmer Art”.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment