I’d been looking forward to seeing the fabled temples of Angkor for most of my life and was suitably thrilled by my first glimpse of Angkor Wat’s legendary towers, but it was the miles of friezes around the lower walls of the temple that were the great revelation for me. Somehow, it seemed, those sculptors had turned stone to canvas. Here’s a little gallery to show you what I mean:
Pop over to see more stories of stone on Ailsa’s Weekly Travel Theme.
The Wanderlust Gene 
The sculptors indeed created magnificent canvases on the stone. So very beautiful!
It is impressive to see these stone/canvas stories that reveal an incredible history.
I would love to visit Angkor Wat one day.
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Such intricate work. You captured it beautifully.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
Wow I’ve never seen these before, thanks for showing me Angkor in a different light from the usual!
Wonderful photos of breath taking imagery.
I’ve always been fascinated by sculptor and their work, how they release a figure from its rock/marble prison. When it comes to works like these panels, I’m amazed by the level of detail that can be achieved within but a few mm of the surface. Unbelievable. Thanks for sharing your photos with us.
Exactly! They’re so lively and individual – just like paintings – really, little miracles I’m so thankful to have seen and to be able to share. 🙂
A fantastic gallery of friezes Meredith! You can’t help marveling at those remarkably well preserved stories in stone.
It’s a miracle that they’ve survived so well, isn’t it? I was bowled over by them – at first just that they were there, so many of them, then the wonderful vignettes they depicted, then the individual drawings and expressions – I thought they were terrific.
Those reliefs are stunning. I would love to see them up close!
Ooooh yes, I’m sure you would JM – I wondered if I enjoyed them so much because they were so unexpected, but years later, looking at photos of the work still fills me with joy, so I think it was that they just leapt off the walls and grabbed our attention by their vivacity and quirky detail. 🙂
Amazing. Thanks for sharing! I would love to see them up close and in person.
Such artistry, Meredith. Great choices for the challenge. 🙂
It’s great when challenges like that provide the opportunity for ‘unsung heroes’ like these 🙂
Fascinating stone works. Thanks for the post!
Wonderful 🙂 Have you ever tried stone carving yourself? I did a class a few years ago, and it was so restful and satisfying, carving and making something out of a square slab of plain rock 🙂
Your images remind me of a visit to The Indian living rock temples of Ajanta and Ellora. They have outlived all that later people built.
Wow M…these are amazing
It really is remarkable the detail they were able to include for such an unyielding media. Beautiful.
They are works of art with primitive tools. Amazing