TA PROHM
Temple of Angelina Jolie
Also see our film about
Dominican Republic:
We will be pleased if you like this article.
It costs you nothing, but a good deed is done :-)
The most famous temple of the Angkor Wat complex is Ta Prohm.
Built in 1186, it was a very important center of Khmer life in Cambodia. Here is what Wikipedia writes: “12,640 people lived on the territory of the temple, 18 high priests, 2,740 priests, 2,232 servants and 615 dancers served in it. The temple was subject to 3140 villages , with a population of 79 365 people and 102 hospitals "(1 hospital for every 778 inhabitants and this is in the 12th century - just incredible !!!)
But this is not what made the Temple so famous, it became famous after in 2001 an adventure film was shot here: "Lara Croft - Tomb Raider" with Angelina Jolie in the title role. And the people, having watched the movie, "poured" here in a huge mass. And grateful Khmers began to call it - "Temple of Angelina Jolie". This is such a unity of ancient history with the pop culture of our time. Angelina was so moved by love and attention that she even adopted a Cambodian child (giving hope to all the other boys of the world up to 50 years old inclusive ;-)
We wanted to see this unusual place and went to explore Ta Prohm. On the way to the temple, musicians who perform ancient Khmer music on ancient instruments create an atmosphere of touching history for visitors.
This building is the main entrance and exit. Wooden platforms lead you to the right of the building to start exploring the complex, and upon completion they lead you here, but already to the left of this temple.
The entrance gates to the complex look like Hindu towers. The affinity of this temple to Hinduism was confirmed by the tablets telling that India, together with Cambodia, is engaged in the supervision and restoration of the complex. They put a plus in the karma of India , which cares about its historical heritage even in other countries. And let's move on to the main thing: Ta Prohm Temple is famous for the fact that the jungle has captured it and is not letting go. The trees grab the stones of the temples of the complex with their roots and slowly but surely defeat civilization ...
You can see even more photos of Angkor Wat temples on our Instagram , come in, subscribe, we will be very happy.
The ancient buildings of the complex are gradually being destroyed and in some places piles of stones are visible.
But the most stunning views are created by trees with multiple roots, which seem to say: "Nothing lasts forever, nature will take its toll ..."
See how one of the tree roots penetrates the masonry and pushes the building blocks apart, showing its strength. And when this power is not enough, the roots simply envelop the structure ...
In the next photo - "trees - winners" they were able to destroy the temple for several hundred years.
But the Khmers do not give up and are trying to collect from the rubble, something similar to historical buildings. We are quite skeptical about such attempts, since the temple assembled from the fragments does not look convincing. For us, as people who have played Tetris, dismantling such a temple and assembling another will not be a difficult task ;-)
It would be unfair not to show why this temple complex is named after Angelina Jolie. Here is a video footage from the movie that shows why Ta Prohm is so popular.
The locations involved in the film are very popular. Especially in Chinese groups of 40-50 people ;-) In the next photo we caught a moment when there are not very many tourists ...
But you must take a photo near such a place. Agree that our Lara Croft is even better than Hollywood.
Walking around the temple complex, we saw a lion (a bit strange), rode vines and looked at ancient bas-reliefs.
Some of the bas-reliefs were worn in places, but the general aesthetics were conveyed.
Finishing the research Ta Proma really wanted to take a memorable photo and here it is: "Ukrainian Angelin Jolie is pushing the columns apart with her hands" ;-)
I would like to note in the reportage the nature of the jungle surrounding the Ta Prohm temple. Here is a lake, slightly dried up, but retaining several lotuses, which attracted a cow marked with an arrow and a circle ;-)
