Monday, September 30, 2013
Friday, September 27, 2013
Imagining Angkor: how an ancient civilisation looked
The stone monuments of Angkor may be awe-inspiring, but they don’t tell the full story of what was once the world’s largest city. Although architectural evidence is sparse, experts have determined that the temples once bore colour and stood in the midst of an urban centre of up to one million people.
Now artist Bruno Levy has combined established facts with educated guesses to illustrate what Angkor may have looked like at its peak, in order to recapture the essence of the cityscape for an upcoming pocket guidebook to the ancient civilisation. It is tentatively scheduled to be published at the end of October.
“This book will be revolutionary, not a copy-and-paste of other texts,” Levy said, speaking at cultural centre Meta House, where an exhibition of his illustrations titled Angkorevealed will open tonight.
The 51-year-old Parisian, who holds a master’s degree in Southeast Asian languages and civilisations with a focus on Cambodia and Thailand, did not say much about the book’s content, but added that it was being written “under the authority” of Damian Lewis, an Australian archaeologist. In June, Evans made international headlines after discovering a “lost city” near Phnom Kulen.
Angkorevealed builds upon previous computer-generated 3D images of Angkor that Levy originally exhibited in 2009. To update the pictures, he superimposed the old images on background photographs of landscapes, as well as foreground shots of people, animals, plants and various props.
The resulting images display a peculiar juxtaposition of beautifully rendered buildings and realistic, life-like objects that manage to tease the viewer with snippets of established knowledge, such as the size of the temples, while reminding us that there is still a lot on which we can only speculate.
Architectural evidence, such as traces of gold, stucco and paint, has revealed a few certainties about the temples’ original appearances.
“It is proven by archaeologists that the place was painted. Some of them had a layer of stucco and there are traces of gilding,” said Levy.
But the artist was forced to take creative licence when it came to selecting colours. Many temples show remains of paint, but not much else is known, although laser analysis inside Angkor Wat shows evidence of red, white and orhre paint in successive layers.
To guide his guesswork, Levy based his colour selection on the designs of modern pagodas in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, as well as active Hindu temples in India. The deeply carved sections of the temples, such as bas reliefs, are extensively coloured, while slick surfaces are left white or just lightly coloured.
It is not just the temples, however, that Levy aimed to illuminate. Using Angkorian bas reliefs and the accounts of Zhou Daguan, the Chinese emissary who visited Angkor in 1296 and left the only first-hand account of the civilisation, Levy filled the spaces in front of the magnificent temples with quaint wooden houses and ordinary Khmers going about their business.
For Levy, it is the long-dead residents who ultimately defined Angkor.
“I fell under the charm of the ruins, but I was much more interested in what the ruins mean in terms of civilisation.”
Angkorevealed opens at Meta House on September 25 at 6pm and will run throughout October.
~News courtesy of Phnom Penh Post~
The stone monuments of Angkor may be awe-inspiring, but they don’t tell the full story of what was once the world’s largest city. Although architectural evidence is sparse, experts have determined that the temples once bore colour and stood in the midst of an urban centre of up to one million people.
Now artist Bruno Levy has combined established facts with educated guesses to illustrate what Angkor may have looked like at its peak, in order to recapture the essence of the cityscape for an upcoming pocket guidebook to the ancient civilisation. It is tentatively scheduled to be published at the end of October.
“This book will be revolutionary, not a copy-and-paste of other texts,” Levy said, speaking at cultural centre Meta House, where an exhibition of his illustrations titled Angkorevealed will open tonight.
The 51-year-old Parisian, who holds a master’s degree in Southeast Asian languages and civilisations with a focus on Cambodia and Thailand, did not say much about the book’s content, but added that it was being written “under the authority” of Damian Lewis, an Australian archaeologist. In June, Evans made international headlines after discovering a “lost city” near Phnom Kulen.
Angkorevealed builds upon previous computer-generated 3D images of Angkor that Levy originally exhibited in 2009. To update the pictures, he superimposed the old images on background photographs of landscapes, as well as foreground shots of people, animals, plants and various props.
The resulting images display a peculiar juxtaposition of beautifully rendered buildings and realistic, life-like objects that manage to tease the viewer with snippets of established knowledge, such as the size of the temples, while reminding us that there is still a lot on which we can only speculate.
Architectural evidence, such as traces of gold, stucco and paint, has revealed a few certainties about the temples’ original appearances.
“It is proven by archaeologists that the place was painted. Some of them had a layer of stucco and there are traces of gilding,” said Levy.
But the artist was forced to take creative licence when it came to selecting colours. Many temples show remains of paint, but not much else is known, although laser analysis inside Angkor Wat shows evidence of red, white and orhre paint in successive layers.
To guide his guesswork, Levy based his colour selection on the designs of modern pagodas in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, as well as active Hindu temples in India. The deeply carved sections of the temples, such as bas reliefs, are extensively coloured, while slick surfaces are left white or just lightly coloured.
It is not just the temples, however, that Levy aimed to illuminate. Using Angkorian bas reliefs and the accounts of Zhou Daguan, the Chinese emissary who visited Angkor in 1296 and left the only first-hand account of the civilisation, Levy filled the spaces in front of the magnificent temples with quaint wooden houses and ordinary Khmers going about their business.
For Levy, it is the long-dead residents who ultimately defined Angkor.
“I fell under the charm of the ruins, but I was much more interested in what the ruins mean in terms of civilisation.”
Angkorevealed opens at Meta House on September 25 at 6pm and will run throughout October.
~News courtesy of Phnom Penh Post~
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
Friday, September 6, 2013
Numbers 0-5
Value - Khmer - Word form
0 ០ សូន្យ soun
1 ១ មួយ muoy
2 ២ ពីរ pii
3 ៣ បី bei
4 ៤ បួន buon
5 ៥ ប្រាំ pram
0 ០ សូន្យ soun
1 ១ មួយ muoy
2 ២ ពីរ pii
3 ៣ បី bei
4 ៤ បួន buon
5 ៥ ប្រាំ pram
Install Khmer unicode
Install Khmer unicode on Windows 7
http://www.sbbic.org/lang/en-us/2010/07/15/how-to-install-khmer-unicode-on-windows-7/
Install Khmer unicode on Windows XP
http://www.sbbic.org/lang/en-us/2010/03/27/how-to-install-khmer-unicode-on-your-windows-xp-computer
http://www.sbbic.org/lang/en-us/2010/07/15/how-to-install-khmer-unicode-on-windows-7/
Install Khmer unicode on Windows XP
http://www.sbbic.org/lang/en-us/2010/03/27/how-to-install-khmer-unicode-on-your-windows-xp-computer
碳烤咖啡飘香
碳烤咖啡飘香
採用传统方式炭烤出来的老挝咖啡，全採用人工製作。
西哈努克港口，除了拥有风景怡人的海边之外，还有一个您可能不知的传统碳烤咖啡。
炭烤咖啡，採用传统方式炭烤出来的老挝咖啡，全採用人工，所以每天工人在烤咖啡的时候，都会千里飘香，这让爱好咖啡者都陶醉在咖啡香味当中，这也为西港增添一种特色。
出售炭烤咖啡的西港老牌粿条店仙女餐厅，就在餐厅隔壁设立一个炭烤咖啡的小空间，每天用人工炭烤老咖啡供自卖和零售，坐在咖啡店的客人们还能闻著咖啡香气，现场喝口香醇的咖啡，实属人生一件美事，而且不喜欢喝咖啡的客人，也可以在此享受咖啡的香气。
这特色就只有在西港能找到，而且喜欢咖啡的国內外游客，都可以买一两公斤当手信，或者在家冲泡细细品尝。
该店的老板娘符爱莉（48岁）是海南人，1994年跟隨父母亲在西港开设咖啡粿条店，至今十余年。
符爱莉指出，该店使用的咖啡豆，是自行用人工慢火炭烤出来的老挝咖啡，工人每天烤两轮，每次烤七公斤，每天能生產出14公斤的炭烤咖啡豆。
她说，新鲜烤出来的咖啡豆，磨成粉之后，最好在两个星期內用完，这样就可以保留它的香气。目前，该店炭烤咖啡豆每公斤售价12至13美元，不少识途的金边人，週末过来都会跟她卖一两公斤，带回去自己喝或当手信送人。
（柬埔寨星洲日报）
採用传统方式炭烤出来的老挝咖啡，全採用人工製作。
西哈努克港口，除了拥有风景怡人的海边之外，还有一个您可能不知的传统碳烤咖啡。
炭烤咖啡，採用传统方式炭烤出来的老挝咖啡，全採用人工，所以每天工人在烤咖啡的时候，都会千里飘香，这让爱好咖啡者都陶醉在咖啡香味当中，这也为西港增添一种特色。
出售炭烤咖啡的西港老牌粿条店仙女餐厅，就在餐厅隔壁设立一个炭烤咖啡的小空间，每天用人工炭烤老咖啡供自卖和零售，坐在咖啡店的客人们还能闻著咖啡香气，现场喝口香醇的咖啡，实属人生一件美事，而且不喜欢喝咖啡的客人，也可以在此享受咖啡的香气。
这特色就只有在西港能找到，而且喜欢咖啡的国內外游客，都可以买一两公斤当手信，或者在家冲泡细细品尝。
该店的老板娘符爱莉（48岁）是海南人，1994年跟隨父母亲在西港开设咖啡粿条店，至今十余年。
符爱莉指出，该店使用的咖啡豆，是自行用人工慢火炭烤出来的老挝咖啡，工人每天烤两轮，每次烤七公斤，每天能生產出14公斤的炭烤咖啡豆。
她说，新鲜烤出来的咖啡豆，磨成粉之后，最好在两个星期內用完，这样就可以保留它的香气。目前，该店炭烤咖啡豆每公斤售价12至13美元，不少识途的金边人，週末过来都会跟她卖一两公斤，带回去自己喝或当手信送人。
（柬埔寨星洲日报）
Monday, September 2, 2013
分散人潮免危及古跡‧多角度欣赏吴哥日落
分散人潮免危及古跡‧多角度欣赏吴哥日落
登上博山（Phnom Bok），欣赏美丽的日落。（图：吴哥日落网）
我国和澳洲合作，用互联网保护脆弱的吴哥古跡。
澳洲大使馆发表文告指出，新开发的网站angkorsunsets.com，游客可以从方圆400平方公里的古跡范围內，获知哪里可以欣赏日落的景点详情。
由於大量游客涌入已广为宣传的景点欣赏日落，已危及这些景点的建筑和完美。而新网站列出34个欣赏日落的替代景点，並附上详情，如气氛、离大门的距离和参观人数等，供游客作出选择。
文告表示，新网站乃澳洲政府於2008年发起的遗產管理框架项目之一部份，以应对游客激增及周边社区快速发展，对古跡带来的环境衝击。
（柬埔寨星洲日报）
登上博山（Phnom Bok），欣赏美丽的日落。（图：吴哥日落网）
我国和澳洲合作，用互联网保护脆弱的吴哥古跡。
澳洲大使馆发表文告指出，新开发的网站angkorsunsets.com，游客可以从方圆400平方公里的古跡范围內，获知哪里可以欣赏日落的景点详情。
由於大量游客涌入已广为宣传的景点欣赏日落，已危及这些景点的建筑和完美。而新网站列出34个欣赏日落的替代景点，並附上详情，如气氛、离大门的距离和参观人数等，供游客作出选择。
文告表示，新网站乃澳洲政府於2008年发起的遗產管理框架项目之一部份，以应对游客激增及周边社区快速发展，对古跡带来的环境衝击。
（柬埔寨星洲日报）
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