garrie maguire

The ascendancy of the Khmer people began in the 7th and 8th century (CE) as their kingdoms across the plains of the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers consolidated. The great lake of Tonle Sap provided the heart of the agrarian power and capital. The capital at Angkor established in 900 CE, at its pinnacle during the reign of Jayavarman VII (1183-1218), was arguably the most opulent and powerful in South East Asian history. The Khmer Empire reached from the palaces and temples of Angkor along its highways through Thailand reaching as far as Burma, Laos, Vietnam and the Malay peninsula.

Jayavarman VII executed the most ambitious building program of monumental structures, but in the wake of his reign, the Khmer Empire underwent a rapid decline. Undoubtedly a combination of many factors, the shift in economic power to maritime traders, and increased insurgencies by the armies of Thailand and Vietnam eroded the wealth of the Khmer court. A shift in religious emphasis to Buddhism also favoured less monumental architecture; the great Khmer buildings were no longer built; the capital moved from Angkor to present day Phnom Penh.

The European "discovery" of Angkor in the mid 19th century romanticised the abandoned buildings and giant sculptures attributing them to a lost civilisation. Refusing to acknowledge the cultural hertiage of modern Cambodian people, the "forgotten" city is even attributed by westerners to alien extra-terrestrials. This monument of a lost civilisation is almost intact, though there is no trace of the empire builders who conceived it. Angkor lies to the north, a league or two outside the fringe of the populous cultivated zone. A few yellow robed priests dream away their life in the ruins. Otherwise the temple is deserted save at the time of the annual festival when the Cambodians carry offerings to their dead. (Edmond Candler, 1920)

Though out the 20th century, the tragedy of Indochine, the American war, Khmer Rouge and civil war have devastated what remained of this once proud heritage. Simultaneously listed as World Heritage and Endangered, the Angkor monuments are faced with 21st century destruction by illegal trade in antiquities and a burgeoning and perhaps desperate tourism market.Shadows of Angkor captures the magnificent art and architecture of the Khmer to raise awareness of this special heritage and to support its preservation through donations from photographic sales to the World Monument Fund.