Recently I saw a TV documentary on ARTE about French artist Bertrand de Miollis who was travelling through Cambodia, making watercolour sketches as he went along. He also went to the Angkor temples. These are ancient Hindu temples in a jungle, protected as an archeological site. I was very impressed by the film sequence about these ancient buildings. There seems to have been an agreement of not trying to restore the temples, but rather to leave everything as it has developed over a long time, with all the jungle plants overgrowing the stones. It’s absolutely fascinating. I was particularly impressed by an image of a huge tree which had grown over a Goddess statue. The high rising roots were like a curtain which opend to reveal a secret about the tree. I include a picture I found on the web as an illustration. It’s not the one that was growing over the statue, but it shows how the jungle and the temple buildings have merged over centuries.
How much I would like to visit these temples, and draw there!
References
Picture of tree overgrowing temple buildings
http://m.pinterest.com/pin/351912441217079/
ARTE information page about the documentary (in German, also available in French)
http://www.arte.tv/de/Programm/244,broadcastingNum=1362080,day=1,week=32,year=2012.html
Web site of Bertrand de Miollis
http://www.miollis.com
“Carnets de voyage au Cambodge”: Video of the TV documentary (2 minutes trailer in French)
http://www.miollis.com/Site/Television/Television.html
“Carnets de voyage: Le Cambodge avec Bertrand de Miollis”: Full video (52 minutes) on a payable internet service
http://www.vodeo.tv/documentaire/carnets-de-voyage-le-cambodge-avec-bertrand-de-miollis