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Le Ruwanwelisaya est un stupa au Sri Lanka, considéré comme une merveille pour ses qualités architecturales et sacré pour de nombreux bouddhistes du monde entier. Il a été construit par Gamini Abhaya qui est devenu le maître de tout le Sri Lanka après une guerre dans laquelle le Chola roi Elara, a été défait.
Ceci est l'un des Solosmasthana (les 16 lieux de culte) et la Atamasthana (les 8 lieux de vénération dans l'ancienne ville sacrée d'Anuradhapura). Ce stupa est l'un des plus grands stupa du monde avec 103m de hauteur et une circonférence de 290m.
[ Vincent Leroux Photo ] tous droits réservés - all rights reserved. Contacter l'auteur avant toute utilisation - contact the author before any use
Pambanan temple, also called thousand temple which some are damaged because 6,2 SR earth quake on 2006, taken last summer when visiting my Family in Indonesia.
From the May 2016 trip to Thailand and Cambodia:
Ayuthaya is really just a day trip from Bangkok. It’s about 1.5-2 hours by small van (and was about 60 baht/person, if I remember correctly). Ayuthaya is an interesting place in that it’s the former capital of Siam and, now, is famous for its ruins (Angkor Wat-ish, which made this day trip a pretty good preview for me, since we spent 2+ full days in Angkor a week after being here).
The ruins are quite fascinating. Ayuthaya was, in its prime, one of the largest cities in the world. It was the capital of Siam from 1350-1767 and was a major trading port, which led to a lot of international comingling. The capital finally fell in 1767 at the hands of the Burmese, who went on to destroy almost everything they could.
After 1767, the majority of temples simply began to fall into ruin. It wasn’t until 1991 when UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site that renovation/restoration truly began. The Burmese, for their part, have contributed to rebuilding.
The old city of Ayuthaya is located on an island – manmade, if I’m not mistaken – surrounded by sprawling, modern-day, urbanized and otherwise completely unmemorable buildings in a panoramic sense. The minivan drops you off at the eastern edge of the island, where you’re generally assailed upon by a horde of tuktuk drivers. For 800 baht, we had one hired for the day, who took us to six sites.
On the particular day that we visited here (Tuesday, May 10, 2016), it was fairly hot. The temperature was close to 100 degrees (38*C). We arrived at the first of six (though there are many more) temples around 11:00.
Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon (20 baht) was built by King U Thong in 1357 to house Sri Lankan monks. It’s just outside the main island on the eastern or southeastern part of town. The highlights of this temple are the somewhat large reclining Buddha and the rows of Buddhas which surround the main chedi. It’s not a large temple, though it was pretty interesting and photogenic.
The second site (through the fifth) were all located on the main island. Wat Phra Mahathat (50 baht) has the most-photographed site in Ayuthaya: a sandstone Buddha head entwined in a tree’s root system. The temple was built in 1374 during the reign of King Borom Ratchathirat I. The other points of interest at Wat Mahathat are the Khmer-style prangs (chedis) and the rows of headless Buddhas. Wat Mahathat is quite a bit bigger than Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon, and it’s easy to spend an hour here.
From Wat Mahathat, the third stop was quite near: Wat Phra Si Sanphet (50 baht). Per Lonely Planet, Wat Si Sanphet was built during the late 15th century and once contained a 16-meter high standing Buddha covered with 250 kg of gold that the Burmese melted down and ran off with. What is still remaining are three rather impressive and easily-recognizable chedi (chedi just means stupa, or pagoda) that are the highlight of a visit here. Like Wat Mahthat, the grounds here are a bit large, though there are fewer ruins here than at Mahathat. This temple was used by quite a few kings.
Next door to Wat Si Sanphet was the fourth stop: Wihaan Phra Mongkhon Bophit. This is a sanctuary hall which houses one of the largest (17-meter high) bronze Buddha statues in the country. The Buddha has undergone quite a few restorations after lightning strikes and fire. In 1955, the Burmese Prime Minister donated 200,000 baht (a little over $6,000) to restore the building. Between Wat Si Sanphet and here, one can easily spend another hour, if not longer.
Wat Lokaya Sutha was the fifth stop, and is on the western side of the main island. Of the six stops, it was the least impressive…primarily because there’s not much to see except for a reclining Buddha, which is rather large. The actual temple itself, though, is long gone. Spending more than 5-10 minutes here is probably a few minutes longer than necessary.
Our last stop of the afternoon was Wat Chai Wattanaram (50 baht/person). This is one of the more recent temples/ruins (built in 1673 by King Prasat Thong). LP says that, “Just 40 years ago, this temple and one-time garrison were immersed in thick jungle.” None of that is evident now. It’s actually a dry, dusty temple with a very distinct 35-meter high central prang surrounded by 4 medium-sized prangs (at the NE, SE, SW, and NW corners) and four smaller prangs at the cardinal directions. This temple is quite picturesque, though given the heat, we were about ready to call it a day after having spent about 30-45 minutes here.
Finally having finished, we had our tuktuk driver take us back to the bus station (a garage, really), where we immediately caught a van back to Bangkok and spent our last evening (for now) wandering around Chinatown (quickly) before going back to Th Khao San for a more relaxing dinner.
The Temple was the last work undertaken by Kent before his death. Built in 1746, the Temple is an eye-catching octagonal folly which was originally used as a banqueting house. It was created for the 2nd Duke of Grafton in the Palladian style and features a domed roof with a triangular pediment. This was a favourite spot of the 3rd and 4th Dukes, who owned the hugely successful Grafton stud, and would enjoy watching their racehorses being exercised in the Park.
Vadakkunnathan Temple also known as Thenkailasam and Vrishabhachalam, is one of the largest and ancient Shiva temples in Kerala and India. It is located in the heart of Thrissur city. This temple is a classic example of the Kerala style of architecture with beautiful murals delineating graphically, various episodes from the Mahabharata. The shrines and the Koothambalam display exquisite vignettes carved in wood. According to popular lore, the temple was built by Parasurama. The sprawling Thekkinkadu maidan, encircling the Vadakumnathan temple, is the main venue of the Thrissur Pooram
Hindu temple dedicated to the goddess Meenakshi, also known as Parvati, wife of Shiva. Most of the structure of the temple has been built in the early 1600s, yet the site has been a temple for 2500 years and has continually been a place of worship since then. The temple has 14 gopurams (gateway towers), 33000 sculptures, and over 15000 visitors every day, rising to over 1 million during the April/May festival.
Borobudur temple is the largest temple in Asia, located in Central Java, Indonesia. This shot taken from Barede Hills, 2 km west of the temple.
This stunning Sun Temple was built in 1026 and is one of Gujarat’s highlights in religious architecture. In tribute to its solar deity, it was designed to capture the dawn sunlight on the image of Surya during the equinoxes. As you approach the temple through peaceful gardens you pass the Surya Kund, a rectangular stepwell containing over 100 shrines.
Karamsar Gurdwara
Gurdwara Karamsar is located on the High Road between Ilford and Seven Kings Main line railway Stations. The building was originally used as a Labour Party Community Hall and was converted into a Temple during 1990’s. The original building has just 1 floor - The ground floor houses the Darbar Hall, Langar Hall, Kitchen, Offices, Washroom facilities, Shoe Rooms. The Darbar Hall could hold about 500 worshippers.
The temple was erected to look impressive and draw in a crowd, but few take a look behind the facade...
From the autumn 2016 trip to Vietnam:
Hey, Hey, Hue Hue! (“Hue” rhymes with “way,” by the way, and has an aspirated ‘h’ at the beginning.) As I mentioned yesterday, the fine folks at Huenino arranged a private car to shuttle us around the Hue countryside. That cost $37, flat rate, to take as long as we wanted, but she said we would probably be done around 2:00.
After eating an omelet and toast, our driver came to our hotel (which was in an alley) to pick us up. The agenda was this: First, we went to the Thien Mu Pagoda about 1-2 kilometers due west of the Citadel along the Perfume River. After that, we went to three different imperial tombs that were roughly 20 kilometers from downtown Hue (and a few kilometers from each other), and then ended up at the Citadel.
Normally, I wouldn’t be very excited about a pagoda, but when we got to Thien Mu, I was pleased. It’s situated on a slight hill above the Perfume River. (I love the name of the river, by the way, though there was nothing pleasantly aromatic about it. I’m also glad to say it wasn’t a sarcastic name with a pungent bouquet to offend the senses, either.) When you get to the pagoda, though, it has a wonderful little approach: a small, steep staircase that leads up to the pagoda with four pillars right at the top of the stairs that frame the pagoda well.
Next to the pagoda are a few minor temples (about the size of outhouses) surrounded by trees with views of the river. Directly behind the pagoda is the entrance to the temple. The main gate is nice and, upon entering, the main hall is about a hundred meters directly in front of you. The green is pretty lovely and, on the side of the green are some minor halls.
Behind the main hall there is a bonsai garden and a second hall. Finally, behind the secondary hall is another green with a mini pagoda/statue at the back of the grounds. The back of the grounds are enclosed by trees.
After leisurely making our way to the back of the grounds (in 30-45 minutes, I’d guess), we walked back towards the front, photographing flowers and two women in traditional dress before stopping at a side hall that had a peculiarity: A sky blue Austin dating from around 1960.
This is the car (which, I believe, I mentioned in my Saigon posts as well) in which the monk Thich Quang Duc rode from An Quang Pagoda down to Saigon before self-immolating in 1963 to protest the treatment of the Ngo Dinh Diem government. (I won’t elaborate here, but the response of Ngo’s sister, to say the least, was callous. You can find a letterbox in the LP Vietnam and read about it.) As I said, I was absolutely delighted by this temple. I suppose I could ascribe it the polar opposite from how I felt at seeing Disappointment Falls en route to Hue on Thursday.
After roughly an hour here at Thien Mu Pagoda, our driver took us to the first of three imperial tombs. To say a little bit about imperial Vietnam – and the era that these tombs cover – the first thing you need to know is that you can NOT associate dynastic Vietnam with China. They couldn’t be much more different. China’s dynasties span more than two thousand years from 221 B.C.-1911 A.D. (with smaller kingdoms even predating those). When talking about imperial Vietnam, we have to reach way, way back in time…to the 1800s – A.D., that is. So, these tombs are somewhere around 150-200 years old, give or take a few years.
Another thing to know about imperial Vietnam is that they ruled while the country was really being run by the French who, by this point, had taken over Indochina. So, I suppose if you were desperate to compare Vietnamese emperors to Chinese, you could go with the last emperor, Puyi, who was pretty much a puppet emperor in Manchuria until the 1930s when the Japanese let him rule as a figurehead. (Speaking of Puyi, that movie – the Last Emperor – is extraordinary.)
For now, I’ll focus squarely on the tombs themselves. The first one we stopped at was the Tomb of Minh Mang. When we arrived here, we went to the ticket booth to buy a pass to the four sites (three tombs plus Citadel) for 360,000 VND/person (~17-18 USD).
Of the imperial tombs I’ve seen – primarily in southeastern Korea – this one was the most like those. The Korean mausoleums are massive mounds built on top of the tombs and that’s what this was.
In retrospect, Minh Mang’s tomb was my favorite of the three we would see on the day. It was parklike and fairly expansive. Minh Mang “ruled” from 1820-1840, so obviously the tomb would date from sometime around 1840. The tomb was planned during his reign and built by his successor, Thieu Tri.
The Honor Courtyard is at the south end of the complex directly in front of Dinh Vuong (Stele Pavilion). There are three stairways leading up to the pavilion. From inside the pavilion, you have a nice view of Sung An Temple (dedicated to Minh Mang and his empress) directly in front of you and two side halls framing in a courtyard filled with potted flowers.
Behind Sung An temple, you pass through Hien Duc Gate descend some stairs and can cross one of three bridges to span Trung Minh Ho (Lake of Impeccable Clarity). The central bridge was for the emperor’s use only, so I guess I was an emperor on this day.
Once across the bridge, you find yourself looking up at Minh Lau Pavilion (Pavilion of Light) which is built on three superimposed terraces that represent the “three powers”: the ehavens, the earth, and water. To the left of this is the Fresh Air Pavilion and, to the right, the Angling Pavilion.
Finally, you cross another, slightly longer, stone bridge that carries you over Tan Nguyet Lake (Lake of the New Moon). This is a crescent-shaped lake and, once across, you finally find yourself at the base of Minh Mang’s tomb with its rather large staircase flanked by dragon banisters that lead to his sepulcher. However, you also find that the gates are locked and you can’t actually go see the tomb. (It’s only open one day a year, on the anniversary of his death.)
After reaching the tomb, you can walk out the same way you came in or, after crossing the stone bridges in front of Minh Lau Pavilion, you can veer off and take a path that skirts the large and rather pleasant Tan Nguyet Lake back to the front gate (which is what we did).
When we finally made our way back to our driver, I think we’d spent an hour or so at the first tomb. From there, it was a short 5-10 minute drive to the second of the three: the Tomb of Khai Dinh. I’ll simply copy the LP Vietnam description of this tomb here:
“This hillside monument is a synthesis of Vietnamese and European elements. Most of the tomb’s grandiose exterior is covered in blackened concrete, creating an unexpectedl Gothic air, while the interiors resemble an explosion of colorful mosaic.
Khai Dinh was the penultimate emperor of Vietnam, from 1916 to 1925, and widely seen as a puppet of the French. The construction of his flamboyant tomb took 11 years.
Steps lead to the Honor Courtyard where mandarin honor guards have a mixture of Vietnamese and European features. Up three more flights of stairs is the stupendous main building, Thien Dinh. The walls and ceiling are decorated with murals of the Four Seasons, Eight Precious Objects, and Eight Fairies. Under a graceless, gold-speckled concrete canopy is a gilt bronze statue of Khai Dinh. His remains are interred 18m below the statue.”
Khai Dinh’s tomb was a stark contrast to Minh Mang’s. Minh Mang’s takes advantage of a natural setting whereas this tomb has a castle/temple feel to it. It’s on a hill and the views afforded from in front of Thien Dinh are quite wonderful. The temple itself – actually it advertises itself as a palace – is pretty much as Lonely Planet described it: rather ostentatious. That being said, it’s still well worth coming out here, especially to use it as a contrast from the other two tombs. Anyway, about 30 minutes at the Tomb of Khai Dinh should more than suffice even the most leisurely of visitors.
From there, we hopped back in the car for a 15 minute drive to the third and final tomb of the day: the Tomb of Tu Duc. This is actually the closest of the three to the city. I rather like the order in which we visited, though. My favorite first, least-favorite second, and another nice one to end it.
The Tomb of Tu Duc was built between 1864 and 1867. According to LP, it’s “the most popular, and certainly one of the most impressive of the royal mausoleums.” (That being said, I preferred Minh Mang’s tomb…by a long way.)
This tomb was designed by the emperor himself for use both before and after his death. Tu Duc was an interesting puppet king. Basically…he was a sterile Lothario. He had 104 wives and countless concubines, though no offspring. (Ok…he may not have been sterile, but with that many women around, I don’t think it’s a terribly unreasonable guess.)
This tomb is much closer in style to Minh Mang’s than to Khai Dinh’s. When you walk through the front gate, a path leads directly to Lou Khiem Lake. There’s a tiny island to the right – Tinh Khiem – where he used to hunt small game. Across the water to the left is Xung Khiem Pavilion, where he would compose and recite poetry to his concubines.
From the lake, turn directly behind you to find Hoa Khiem Temple, where Tu Duc and his wife (Empress Hoang Le Thien Anh) were worshipped. It’s not much to speak of when visiting it today, for it doesn’t seem to be a priority to maintain it. There are two thrones in here…and the larger one was for the empress. Tu Duc was, shall we say, vertically challenged, only reaching 153 cm in stature. (That’s a hair over 5’0”, which would even make Prince seem to tower over him.)
Anyway, the temples to honor the emperor/empress and another to honor his mother were so unimpressive to me that I won’t bother with more details. From this area, you continue to walk back less than 5 minutes to the Honor Courtyard with its statues of elephants, horses, and diminutive mandarins (the emperor ensured that his servants were even shorter than he, though I’m not sure where he found enough that fit that description). The courtyard leads to the Stele Pavilion, which has a 20 ton stele for which the emperor drafted the inscriptions himself. From LP, “He freely admitted that he had made mistakes and chose to name his tomb Khiem (modest).”
Of the three tombs on the day, this one is the least impressive. It’s enclosed by a wall on the back side of a tiny crescent-shaped lagoon. It’s a drab, gray monument. The reason it’s unimpressive, I guess, is because the emperor isn’t actually buried here. The site of his remains is unknown as, to keep it a secret from grave robbers, all 200 servants who buried the king were beheaded. How lovely.
As you can tell, I’m not a fan of this particular kind. (Paranoid and insecure, anyone?) However, the grounds and his tomb – barring the temples dedicated to him and his mom – are pleasant enough. I honestly don’t know why people would consider this the most popular, but I won’t argue. I’ll just say it’s a nice place to visit – but not if it’s the only destination you have in mind. The tombs are best seen as a group for contrast’s sake.
Having had our fix of tombs satisfied, the driver took us back into town and dropped us off just inside the Quang Duc Gate (southwestern gate) of the Citadel right in front of the Nine Holy Cannons. (Actually, there are five on this side; the other four are inside the southeast gate: Ngan Gate.)
The Citadel, for comparison, is quite a bit like China’s Forbidden City in its layout and use. Having said that…it’s nothing like the Forbidden City in terms of scale or elaborate detail. However, it’s still quite photogenic.
To get the dimensions out of the way, the outer wall of the Citadel is 10 kilometers long (close to square in orientation, so 2.5 km by 2.5 km) with a moat surrounding it that is 30 meters across. Within the Citadel, there are very distinct sections: the Imperial Enclosure and Forbidden Purple City is in the center. Temple compounds are in the southwest section and residences for family members (emperor’s mother, for example) are in the northwest. There are gardens in the northeast and to the north was the Mang Ca Fortress (which is still a military base).
Unfortunately for the world, you need to really use your imagination when visiting the Forbidden City because the one thing that wasn’t forbidden, sadly, were bombs by both the French and U.S troops during the various wars of the 20th century. Of the 148 buildings that were originally here, only 20 are still standing.
Getting back to our particular tour of the citadel, it started inside the southwest gate which was the outer wall of the compound. It was more of a military parade ground for the emperor and is currently flanked by the nine aforementioned cannons (for decorative purposes only, found under small pavilions) and a massive Vietnamese flag flying high at the center of the southern outer wall.
Walking across the parade grounds, you get to the ticket booth and pass through Ngo Mon Gate. This is a gate with three doors, the central of which was only for the emperor’s use. On top of the gate is the Ngu Phung (Belvedere of the Five Phoenixes). There’s a large drum and bell on its upper level as well. The emperor only came here on special occasions, the last of which, on 30 August 1945, was when Emperor Bao Dai appeared to end the Nguyen Dynasty, abdicating to a delegation sent by Ho Chi Minh.
After entering and crossing a bridge, you arrive at the Thai Hoa Palace (Palace of Supreme Harmony, built in 1803). This is an attractive palace which forbids photography inside. That’s all for the best. It has nice details but, except for the throne, is essentially a large, empty chamber. In a back room, though, is a nice introductory video that previews the Citadel which I’d recommend watching.
We actually went counter to the plan laid out by Lonely Planet here. Instead of continuing directly through the middle of the compound, we turned left out of the back door of the main palace.
After resting for half an hour or so in a cafe, we continued to the southwest corner of the compound. The highlights here are open fields – in a few cases where temples used to be before being blown to smithereens – and a few nice temples are still standing. The most photographic of these is a temple in front of which stand Nine Dynastic Urns. Having seen the three temples in the southwestern corner of the Citadel, we made our way north along the inside of the western wall towards the residential compounds.
On the way there, we decided to skip those and head back towards the center of the Citadel where we came upon the Hall of Mandarins. This is a hall that lists the accomplishments of every emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty. Again, most of the buildings here are gone, and there are just open, grassy fields framed by the halls. The mandarins used to have their offices off the halls here.
Once through the western hall, you come back into an interior grassy field – also framed by rather nice, long corridors. This is/was the Forbidden Purple City where the private residence of the emperor would have been. To the right of the eastern corridor, just outside the Forbidden Field, is the Royal Theater which, while we were here, was under restoration.
From here, we made our way back towards the Thai Hoa Palace, only to find that we couldn’t exit whence we came in, so we had to follow the wall around to the eastern gate. I can say that the southeastern section of the Citadel just has a nice forest-like feel to it, but nothing architectural of note.
When we finally made our way out the eastern gate, we paid two bike drivers (these are bikes on the front of which are placed chariot-ish looking carts that seat one person) to take us back over towards our hotel where we grabbed a very late lunch/early dinner.
For the evening, we just went out for a walk along the river, but – unlike Hoi An – Hue isn’t terribly impressive at night. There’s a night market, but really, everything just seemed a bit dark and not interesting. This was probably also due to the fact that I was feeling a slight fever (possibly from the afternoon shower the day before) and my energy was practically drained. I’m glad to say that I felt fine the following morning, which was good, since we had a one hour flight to Hanoi that would get us to the capital around noon.
As always, thanks for dropping by and viewing these pictures. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments and I’ll answer as I have time.