Author Description

Beyond Angkor will take the reader on a journey that follows both a geographical and, wherever possible, a chronological journey to the most important of these relatively unknown sites. From the south, where the earliest traces of Khmer civilization of the Phnom Da, Angkor Borei and Kampot, we move north and east to the areas which are now Sambor Prei Kuk during the 7th and 8th centuries, the 9th-century Kulen and Roluos region will follow, with constructions of growing complexity to the sophistication of Bakong and Preah Ko. As the 11th century progressed, the Khmer diaspora expanded and the next journey takes us to the boundaries of the empire in Wat Phu in present-day Laos, Preah Vihear, Phnom Rung and Phimai in Thailand, the Kbal Spean site in the Kulen region, Bakan to the north and Phnom Chisor to the south. The road then leads to the expanded scale and grandeur of 12th-century monuments at Angkor: Angkor Wat, Beng Mealea and Banteay Samre. In a concluding chapter, Beyond Angkor will round out the story with an overview of the Buddhist monuments in the heart of the empire: Bayon, Preah Khan, Ta Prohm, with an extension to Banteay Chhmar. The collaborators on the book are John Gollings (photography), Helen Ibbitson Jessup (text) and Ang Choulean (advisor on ethnography and mythology to infuse the monuments with an authentic insight into their Khmer significance). ILLUSTRATIONS 250 colour *