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Angkor Travel
Guide
Sour
Prat
The Tower of the cord
dancers
Prasat Sour Prat is located at the
beginning of the road leading to the
Gate of Victory of Angkor Thom ;
1,200 meters (3,937 feet) in front
of Phimeanakas. A enter and leave
the towers from the road at the
east.
It was built in the end of the 12th
century by the King Jayavarman VII,
replica to Bayon style of art.
Background
The purpose of these towers is a
source of some controversy.
According to a Cambodian legend, the
towers swerved as anchoring places
for ropes which stretched from one
to another for acrobats performing
at festivals, festivals, while the
king observed the performances from
one of the terraces. This activity
is reflected in the name of the
towers. Zhou Daguan wrote about an
entirely different purpose of the
towers in describing a method of
settling disputes between men.
Twelve little stone towers stand in
front of the royal palace. Each of
the contestants is forced to de
seated in one of the towers, with
his relatives standing guard over
him. They remain imprisoned two,
three, or four days. When allowed to
emerge, one of them will be found to
be suffering saome illness- ulcers,
of catarrh, or malignant fever. The
other man will be in perfect health.
Thus is right or wrong determined by
what is called 'celestial judgment'
Henri Mouhot wrote that the towers
were 'said to have been the royal
treasure.. It served, they, as a
depository for the crewels. Another
theory is that they may have served
as an altar for each province on the
occasion of the taking of the oath
of loyalty to the king
Layout
Prasat Suor Prat is a row of 12
square laterite and sandstone
towers, six on either side of the
road leading to Angkor Thom,
parallel to the front of the
terraces. The two towers closest to
the road are back slightly from the
others. The towers are connected by
galleries and are of similar style
and construction. The towers have an
unusual feature of windows with
balusters on three sides.
Entrance porches open toward the
square and the road to the Gate of
Victory of the city of Angkor Thom.
These features support the theory
that these towers were used as some
sort of viewing area, reserved for
princes or dignitaries, on to the
large square of the Royal Palace,
The interior of each tower has two
levels and two levels and on the
upper one there is a cylindrical
vault with two pediments. The
frames, bays and lintels were made
of sandstone. See map page 80.
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