DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27192#0454
Chap. II.
CIVIL ARCHITECTURE.
403
in wood. The rims, too, are in metal, and, apparently, the
wheel turns on the axle. Those who are aware how difficult a
problem it is to make a perfect wheel will appreciate how much
is involved in such a perfect solution of the problem as is here
found. But it requires a knowledge of the clumsiness of the
Romans and our mediaeval forefathers in this respect, and the
utter barbarism of the wheels represented in Indian sculptures
and still used in India, to feel fully its importance as an index
of high civilisation.
If, however, the Cambodians were the only people who
before the 13th century made such wheels as these, it is also
probably true that their architects were the only ones who had
sufficient mechanical skill to construct their roofs wholly of
hewn stone, without the aid either of wood or concrete, and who
could dovetail and join them so beautifully that they remain
watertight and perfect after five centuries of neglect in a
tropical climate. Nothing can exceed the skill and ingenuity
with which the stones of the roofs are joggled and fitted into
one another, unless it is the skill with which the joints of their
plain walls are so polished and so evenly laid without cement
of any kind. It is difficult to detect their joints even in a sun-
picture, which generally reveals flaws not to be detected by
the eye. Except in the works of the old pyramid-building
Egyptians, I know of nothing to compare with it.
When we put all these things together, it is difficult to
decide whether we ought most to admire the mechanical skill
which the Cambodian architects displayed in construction or
the largeness of conception and artistic merit which pervades
every part of their designs. These alone ought to be more
than sufficient to recommend their study to every architect.
To the historian of art the wonder is to find temples with
such a singular combination of styles in such a locality—Indian
temples constructed with pillars almost purely classical in
design, and ornamented with bas-reliefs so strangely Egyptian
in character. To the ethnologist they are almost equally
interesting, in consequence of the religion to which they are
dedicated. Taken together, their circumstances render their
complete investigation of the utmost importance.
CIVIL ARCHITECTURE.
403
in wood. The rims, too, are in metal, and, apparently, the
wheel turns on the axle. Those who are aware how difficult a
problem it is to make a perfect wheel will appreciate how much
is involved in such a perfect solution of the problem as is here
found. But it requires a knowledge of the clumsiness of the
Romans and our mediaeval forefathers in this respect, and the
utter barbarism of the wheels represented in Indian sculptures
and still used in India, to feel fully its importance as an index
of high civilisation.
If, however, the Cambodians were the only people who
before the 13th century made such wheels as these, it is also
probably true that their architects were the only ones who had
sufficient mechanical skill to construct their roofs wholly of
hewn stone, without the aid either of wood or concrete, and who
could dovetail and join them so beautifully that they remain
watertight and perfect after five centuries of neglect in a
tropical climate. Nothing can exceed the skill and ingenuity
with which the stones of the roofs are joggled and fitted into
one another, unless it is the skill with which the joints of their
plain walls are so polished and so evenly laid without cement
of any kind. It is difficult to detect their joints even in a sun-
picture, which generally reveals flaws not to be detected by
the eye. Except in the works of the old pyramid-building
Egyptians, I know of nothing to compare with it.
When we put all these things together, it is difficult to
decide whether we ought most to admire the mechanical skill
which the Cambodian architects displayed in construction or
the largeness of conception and artistic merit which pervades
every part of their designs. These alone ought to be more
than sufficient to recommend their study to every architect.
To the historian of art the wonder is to find temples with
such a singular combination of styles in such a locality—Indian
temples constructed with pillars almost purely classical in
design, and ornamented with bas-reliefs so strangely Egyptian
in character. To the ethnologist they are almost equally
interesting, in consequence of the religion to which they are
dedicated. Taken together, their circumstances render their
complete investigation of the utmost importance.