Abstract
The Bayon temple—located at the centre of Angkor Thom and built by king Jayavarman VII (1181–c.1220)—has been virtualized several times since the ‘rediscovery’ of the Angkor site by Europeans in the middle of the nineteenth century CE. Some of this ‘virtualization’ has involved artistic interpretations of the Bayon, while others were actual archaeological reconstructions based on knowledge of the monument at that time. The layout of the Bayon is its first virtualization, and its evolution from the end of the nineteenth century to the 1960s, shows the complexity and the difficulty met by the explorers and architects who have tried to depict the temple. This paper discusses the recent virtualization of this complex Khmer temple as a three-dimensional model based on a specific context of the building’s archaeological history. Like classical archaeological reconstruction drawings, the main purpose of this kind of virtualization of ancient buildings using 3D modelling is the depiction of a monument in its original shape before deterioration. In the specific case of the Bayon, this purpose poses several challenges linked with the site’s complex architectural history. It is not just one archaeological reconstruction but rather a series of reconstructions that are needed in order to depict the different chronological incarnations of this temple.
This paper summarily raises two points about the generalization of the 3D model for the archaeology of ancient buildings: Because an archaeological reconstruction is not definitive but represents our current understanding of the monument based on a synthesis of architectural and archaeological studies, the question of rendering 3D archaeological reconstructions for the public has to be reassessed. On the other hand, the utilization of the CAD system to elaborate the 3D models of these archaeological reconstructions can be a genuine research tool used to validate hypotheses and conduct new investigations, not just produce images for communication.
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Notes
- 1.
A temple dating from the mid-tenth century CE located some thirty seven kilometres to the northeast of Angkor.
- 2.
Preah Khan and Banteay Chhmar are Buddhist temples, contemporaneous with the Bayon. Editor’s note: Compare Cunin’s virtual models of the Preah Khan temple in Chermayeff’s contribution in this volume, and his model of the Banteay Chhmar temple in Sanday’s essay.
- 3.
Among these reconstructions are those of Alessio Bortot and Nicola Sartorato, which formed part of their architecture degree at the University Institute of Architecture Venice, Italy, in 2005.
- 4.
Francis Garnier published these documents in 1873 in the Voyage d’Exploration en Indochine, which formed the report of this mission. Editor’s note: Compare Baptiste’s essay and his discussion of Delaporte’s drawings as one participant of this mission.
- 5.
The pictures of the outer and inner galleries of the Bayon were taken during two campaigns in 1901–1902 and 1904.
- 6.
JSA started a restoration and conservation program of the Bayon in 1994 and have continued their efforts since 2006 under the name JASA in association with the national authority APSARA, which is in charge of the management of the Angkor Archaeological Park.
- 7.
Editor’s note: Cunin’s virtual model of the temple (in relation of the Japanese results which depict the temple in one specific moment in time) discusses actual and ancient buildings typologies of the Bayon-style temples at Angkor. This aligns with Nguonphan’s (this volume) generic reconstruction of the decorative patterns of the classical period of Angkorian temples. Toubekis/Jansen’s solutions in this book, however, create models as communicative tools in the decision-finding process of restoration. Gruen’s surface-oriented models, on the other hand, focus on the overall image of the temple structures. How the value of Angkorian tempels as living social entities of the local stakeholders can be part of all these undertakings, seems to be an unsolved or not even posed question. From this point of view, the dichotomy between the virtual models in their ‘archaeologizing’ effects on the one side and the rising appreciation of the temples as ‘living heritage’ on the other, is still valid.
- 8.
This figure includes the five Angkor Thom monumental face gates, most likely because Cambodians consider the Bayon and Angkor Thom a unique entity.
- 9.
This is a Bayon-style monument with face towers, located in the Banteay Meancheay province in Cambodia, see the contribution of Sanday in this volume.
- 10.
A total of sixty-four face towers, of which fifty-nine are from the Bayon.
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Cunin, O. (2013). Virtualizing the Temple of Bayon. In: Falser, M., Juneja, M. (eds) 'Archaeologizing' Heritage?. Transcultural Research – Heidelberg Studies on Asia and Europe in a Global Context. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35870-8_9
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