3-021-753 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Western colonnade of the Temple of Ongou Wat, [Angkor Wat], Cambodia, 1868. Engraving of a photograph by Mr. J. Thomson. 'It is, perhaps, needless to remark that the tiger introduced by our draughtsman...does not appear in the photograph; but tigers are said to frequent the neighbourhood of the ruins....The history of Cambodia is almost unknown; the present race of natives state that a flight of angels came down from heaven and built these temples...The pillars are very correctly proportioned, and surmounted by a proper architrave, a frieze, which within the temple receives elaborate sculpture, and a cornice, which displays infinite rows and repetitions of seven-headed serpents...These remains of former magnificence show the high state of civilisation the ancient Cambodians had arrived at. Their empire is now an empty name'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.