DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0687
Chap. IV.
CAMBODIA.
«63
CHAPTER IV.
CAMBODIA.
contexts.
Introductory—Temples of Nakhon Wat, Ongcor Thorn, Paten ta Phrohm, &c.
INTRODUCTORY.
Since the exhumation of the buried cities of Assyria by Mons. Eotta
and Mr. Layard nothing has occurred so startling, or which has
thrown so much light on Eastern art, as the discovery of the ruined
cities of Cambodia. Historically, they are infinitely less important
to us than the ruins of Nimroud and Nineveh; but, in an archi-
tectural point of view, they are more astonishing; and, for the eluci-
dation of certain Indian problems, it seems impossible to overrate
their importance.
The first European who visited these ruins in modern times was
M. Mouhot, a French naturalist, who devoted the last four years of his
life (185S-18G1) to the exploration of the valleys of the Mekong and
Menam rivers. Though the primary object of his travels was to
investigate the natural productions of the country, he seems to have
been so struck with the ruins of Ongcor Wat that he not only sketched
and made plans of them, but wrote descriptions of all the principal
buildings. Unfortunately for science and art he never returned to
Europe, being struck down by fever while prosecuting his researches
in the northern part of the country ; and, though his notes have been
published both in this country1 and in France, they were not pre-
pared for publication by himself, and want the explanatory touches
which only an author can give to his own work. Though his melan-
choly death prevented M. Mouhot from obtaining all the credit he was
entitled to for his discovery, it has borne rich fruit as far as the
public are concerned
The next person who visited these ruins was the very learned
Dr. Aclolph Bastian;2 who has written a most recondite but most
unsatisfactory work on the Indo-Chinese nations, in five volumes.
1 'Travels in Indn.China, Cambodia, j 2 'Die Yiilker der Oestlichen Asien,'
aud Laos,' by Henri Mouhot. 2 vols. | von Dr. A. Bastian. Leipzig, I860.
Svo. Murray, 1864.
CAMBODIA.
«63
CHAPTER IV.
CAMBODIA.
contexts.
Introductory—Temples of Nakhon Wat, Ongcor Thorn, Paten ta Phrohm, &c.
INTRODUCTORY.
Since the exhumation of the buried cities of Assyria by Mons. Eotta
and Mr. Layard nothing has occurred so startling, or which has
thrown so much light on Eastern art, as the discovery of the ruined
cities of Cambodia. Historically, they are infinitely less important
to us than the ruins of Nimroud and Nineveh; but, in an archi-
tectural point of view, they are more astonishing; and, for the eluci-
dation of certain Indian problems, it seems impossible to overrate
their importance.
The first European who visited these ruins in modern times was
M. Mouhot, a French naturalist, who devoted the last four years of his
life (185S-18G1) to the exploration of the valleys of the Mekong and
Menam rivers. Though the primary object of his travels was to
investigate the natural productions of the country, he seems to have
been so struck with the ruins of Ongcor Wat that he not only sketched
and made plans of them, but wrote descriptions of all the principal
buildings. Unfortunately for science and art he never returned to
Europe, being struck down by fever while prosecuting his researches
in the northern part of the country ; and, though his notes have been
published both in this country1 and in France, they were not pre-
pared for publication by himself, and want the explanatory touches
which only an author can give to his own work. Though his melan-
choly death prevented M. Mouhot from obtaining all the credit he was
entitled to for his discovery, it has borne rich fruit as far as the
public are concerned
The next person who visited these ruins was the very learned
Dr. Aclolph Bastian;2 who has written a most recondite but most
unsatisfactory work on the Indo-Chinese nations, in five volumes.
1 'Travels in Indn.China, Cambodia, j 2 'Die Yiilker der Oestlichen Asien,'
aud Laos,' by Henri Mouhot. 2 vols. | von Dr. A. Bastian. Leipzig, I860.
Svo. Murray, 1864.