The World Traveling: Temple

Showing posts with label Temple. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Machu Picchu Above Urubamba Valley

Machu Picchu is the pre Columbian, Inca empire site that is located almost 8,000 feet above the sea level. The site is located on a mountain ridge above the valley of Urubamba in Peru. The city is also called the “lost city of Incas”. When tourists make a list of the best world tour destination, Machu Picchu is the site that undoubtedly gets the maximum number of votes.

It is said that the journey to this spot is a dream journey, which one must never miss. It is a journey to the top archeological site on the planet earth. Data says that the Machu Picchu Tourism is one of the proudest industries in the country. Whatever your expectation out of the place would be, you will really be more than delighted to see the picturesque beauty of the place and the intoxicating power that it will have on you.

Machu Picchu was built in 146 AD, however, it was left by the Inca rulers 100 years later. Legendary stories suggest that the place was neglected for quite some time. In the year 1911, Hiram Bingham, who was an American historian, got the world’s attention to it and then there was no looking back. Recent discoveries also show that the site was dug many years ago by a German businessman. The site became a part of the UNESCO, world heritage site in 1983. The site as built in typical Inca style with dry stone polished walls and it most famous buildings are ‘ the temple of sun’ and ‘ the room of three windows’.

Traveling to Machu Picchu
The site is located 80 kilometers northwest of Cusco and sits between two mountains. From Cusco, you can take a train to Aguas Calientes and then take a bus up to the actual site. If you are of the more adventurous type, you may want to take a one-way bus trip up to Machu Picchu and then walk down to Aguas Calientes on your way back.

Pictures & Photos

machu picchu

machu picchu weather

machu picchu

peru machu picchu

machu picchu tours

machu picchu peru

machu picchu timeline

Machu Picchu

Monday, September 6, 2010

Angkor Wat Temple

Built from 802 to 1220 AD by the Khmer civilization, the temples at Angkor represent one of the most enduring and astonishing architectural achievements of humankind. The more than 100 stone structures that we see today are the surviving remnants of a grand administrative, religious, and social metropolis. The other buildings (public buildings, palaces, homes, etc.) were actually built from wood and do not exist anymore.

Conventional theories assume that the land where Angkor is located was chosen as the settlement spot due to its strategic position for military purposes, as well as its agricultural potential. However, other scholars think that the location and the arrangement of Angkor was based on planet-spanning sacred land from archaic periods.

Angkor Wat was built early in 1100s by Suryavarman over an estimated 30 years and honors Vishnu, the Hindu god. The ruins are a symbolic structure of Hindu cosmology. This is actually the biggest monument in the group, as well as the best preserved. The wonder is located about 4 miles to the north of Siem Reap and south of Angkor Thom, and Angkor Wat is only accessible from its gate to the west.

Angkor Wat consists of a huge temple that symbolizes Mt. Meru, a mythic mountain, and its 5 walls and moats are a representation of mountainous chains, as well as the cosmic ocean. This temple was a funerary temple built for King Suryavarman II. The vast compound’s short dimensions are aligned precisely along the north-south axis, and the east to west axis was diverted deliberately 0.75° to give its observers an anticipation of the equinox in spring for 3 days.

Angkor Wat Temple

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Bagan Temples

Bagan is a plain that covers an area of about 16 squares miles alongside the Ayeyarwaddy’s east bank. The temples and Pagodas of Bagan that are now decaying were constructed mainly between the 11th and 13th centuries A.D., which was during the time that Bagan was the Myanmar dynasty seat. Local chronicles have carried tradition that says that 55 kings ruled over the Bagan kingdom over twelve centuries.

The Bagan temples are known as “gu” and were inspiration from the Buddhist rock caves. These were big multi-story buildings that the people could enter and were places where people went to worship, with the interior having richly frescoed corridors and sacred images and shrines that would be worshiped. The temples are often massively built oblong or square structures with terraces on the outside to represent Mount Meru, which was a symbolic home for the gods. The Bagan temples would also be surrounded by a wall made to be thick so that it would separate the sacred realm from the world outside.

The pagodas of Bagan are funerary monuments that have acquired a Buddhism cosmic symbolism. The Bagan pagodas also contain relics that are associated with Buddha. Some of the monuments were constructed in honor of a notable person, being built to bring lasting memories for important families as well. These structures are built in the shape of a bell that is set on an octagonal or square base, and they usually stand to a tapering peak covered with jewels and metal, with a sacred decoration shaped like a parasol (called “hti”) on the top.