Wooden beams across one of the doorways at Banteay TopIt may well be the only ancient Khmer temple to still have remnants of its original wooden ceiling and supports, which gives
Banteay Top - also known as Teap, Tiep, Torp or Toap - a major claim to fame on the Cambodian temple circuit. Aside from that, the tall central tower and four gopuras stand out on a high terrace overlooking a dry moat and a much larger baray nearby. All the towers are in varying degrees of ruin and there's very little carving at the site though it does make for an interesting detour on the way to or from its big sister, Banteay Chhmar, fifteen kilometres away. We were pushed for time on our visit so the hour we took to get to and to scramble over its ruins meant an hour less spent at Banteay Chhmar, which in my view was an hour wasted. In fact there's so much to see at Banteay Chhmar and at some of its satellite temples, that a visit to Banteay Top is only worth considering if you have plenty of time to play with. We didn't. I wasn't happy but that's another story. Without any inscription to tell its story, its believed Banteay Top was built in the 13th century.
These carved wooden beams are the few remains of the original wooden ceilings at Banteay Top
A view of one of the gopura doorways and the location of the wooden beams in relation to the doorframes
Closer detail of the wooden beam supports above a doorway at Banteay Top
Wooden beams across one of the doorways at Banteay Top
These carved wooden beams are the few remains of the original wooden ceilings at Banteay Top
A view of one of the gopura doorways and the location of the wooden beams in relation to the doorframes
Closer detail of the wooden beam supports above a doorway at Banteay Top
2 Comments:
didn't angkor wat have carved wooden ceilings? but they were removed or something and put in a museum? the picture was depicted in the national geographics (i'm pretty sure it was on your blog as well)
I'm not disputing temples like Angkor Wat had wood in them. I believe that many of the temples would've had wooden ceilings and considerably more wood than you can find anywhere today. however over time the wood has rotted away or been removed and re-used and I could be wrong, but I don't think there's anywhere near the amount of wood in the whole of A/Wat than you can find at Banteay Top. You'd be lucky to find a couple of beams if any. As far as I am aware Banteay Top is the last stronghold of wooden beams still in situ.
But happy to be proved wrong of course. I'm just an enthusiastic amateur, not a professional at this temple game. :-)
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