Virtual Angkor: Incomplete Perfection

                                                 Author: Yaroslav Makaev

Of course, virtual reality absorbs characteristics of material objects more persistently each day, but humanity has been building stone constructions for several thousand years, whereas the computer illusion exists only a few years. In that short time, skill and collaborative efforts of tens of thousands of researchers, engineers and programmers, and artists, designers, managers, producers and businessmen along with them, have created a miracle, nurtured an underage genius. The "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" and "Avatar" movies are divided with 8 years, but humanity organically and gradually proceeded from disputes about the quality of computer animation to discussion of the merits of the story. Yet nouveau genius still has a lot to learn and a lot of work.

Development of three-dimensional models of buildings is incredible and inconceivably difficult work! When you create animations based solely on fantasy, any liberties are allowed to you that lie within the plot, but when you recreate the real historic buildings, many of which are symbols of national pride the slightest inaccuracy is not acceptable or highly undesirable. Kent Davis mentions in his article the observed shortcomings of the model, but perhaps only an engineer or architect, a professional working with the CAD systems, is able to assess the Herculean efforts that Vizerra team spared to create the existing visualization of Angkor Wat. They are not gods and are not able to create a world in a few days. They had to set the level of detail of the model, in which some of its elements were excluded as irrelevant: it is impossible to restore each and every break in the stone and each terrain curl.

If, for example, the bas-reliefs of the lower galleries of the temple are quite simple to be reproduced in the electronic copy of our reality without considerable work, the nearly 2000 devatas - called Apsaras in the article – are quite unique in terms of combination of poses, hairstyles, jewelry; each one has its own face and occupies exactly the place she was made for! A reliable reconstruction of them in the model will require tens of thousands of additional man-hours. Someday this will be done. Not now. We began to build the illusions not so long ago...

Another thing, if it comes to the "measurement uncertainty". Davis’ example of the stairs shifted to the left is one of the consequences of such omissions. Analysis of the model allows us to find some more, in my opinion, significant shortcomings. Here I would like to enlarge upon the point.

When you run the model of the temple it brings you to the main entrance of the central Gopuram, unfortunately, denying opportunity to view the temple from a distance, thus presenting an example of restrictions on the level of detail. There is no dispute, because surely there is someone who desired to admire the view of Angkor Wat, for example, from the terrace of one of the oldest hotels in Siem Reap, the Grand Hotel d'Angkor. But in this case, the ancient architects clearly identified the location from which to begin the theater! It’s a cross platform on the outside of the wide moat surrounding the temple. Its stages rising from the earth symbolize the first steps of a long climb to the summit of sacred Mount Meru. George Groslier thus described his impressions of meeting with Angkor Wat: "Every moment, as you move, changes the subject. Stretched across the horizon, ensemble gradually shrinks down to a gloomy room a few meters in size inside the main sanctuary - the last word of this poem of twenty songs, for which propylaeum are only a prelude to the symphony beginning to sound as soon as you transgress the entrance pavilions» – and the first steps on the road to the temple are similar to the first notes of the prelude.

The flat landscape of Cambodia and the local climate are the authors of amazing dreams which arise whenever your eye wearied by the monotony of the picture is trying to find something unusual. Then, the outlines of the mountain peaks suddenly emerge far at the horizon, and the consciousness sharpens all the senses trying to understand the true cause of the spectacle: either clouds form the ghostly mountains or the real mountains rise somewhere on the edge of the earth. Saturated air forms a thin veil that suddenly disappears at a moment when the illusion is already solved, and the viewer either has no doubt in the reality of wooded slopes, or unexpected spillage of tropical rain washes away the remnants of illusion.

The idea of "temple-mountain" is inextricably linked with this main impression of the country which exactly conveys the character of Cambodia, where a rapid transition from the flat plains to the mountain tops is like a miracle, perpetrated by the will of the gods, when the mountain and the temple quickly and easily arise in tropical haze of the day as if out of the thin air. The embodiment of this idea in stone had been sharpened over the centuries. Each architect selected the best achievements of the predecessors and added his brilliant discoveries to it. With each step, the composition had been including more and more volumes of surrounding space. Finally, at some point a new concept was comprehended, the one embodying "temple-universe" by itself and unifying plains, mountains, the vault of heaven, and even the underworld. Angkor Wat combined all the previously found elements which created a unique style of Khmer temples, which then was brought to the level of absolute perfection of architectural plastic image. Spectators could be compared to people late for the prelude, and this is the first defect.

So, we can see the main entrance to the temple. The monumental portal – the central Gopuram - 235 meters wide ends with the pavilions to the left and right, whose high gates with no steps or thresholds were used for the entry of carts, the passage of elephants and servants.

“Angkor Wat bird's eye view" © Shirley

Alas, in the model of the temple we find the stairs instead of it. Comparison of image made from a balloon and a Vizerra screenshot made from a slightly different angle (it was chosen because I could not "turn around"), makes the difference visible.

And this is the second flaw.

Walking through the dam recreated in high detail, past the beautifully restored buildings of libraries, the audience soon turns to be on the three-level cross-shaped terrace, which is called “Grand Terrace”. In addition to the king, only the priests, dancers and temple servants participating in the ceremony had the right to come up here. The levels of terraces are marked symbolically and are consistent with a height of only two small steps, but the throne place can be clearly identified by Nagas balustrade. The lord looked from there at the colorful sea of people and animals waving by his feet, lives and destinies of each of which he was free to dispose of at his discretion.

But we are interested in another view. Let us turn the faces to the temple and count the columns of the left and right wings of the western gallery. The virtual model of Angkor Wat contains 18 columns at each gallery.

And this is the third flaw.

But what’s that really about? Considerations of architectural aesthetics unknown to Europeans, or other compelling reasons forced the architects to break even the holy of holies - the perfect symmetry of the temple on its central axis. And this, without a doubt, can be no mistake or an oversight! Temple, whose overall vision and decoration are attentive to the smallest bit, reveals yet another mystery. Parts of first-tier galleries, located on either side of the main entrance, have a different number of columns. The north wing of the west gallery has 20, while the southern wing - only 18 columns, which also applies to the eastern gallery. It is likely that the asymmetry is associated with the deeper causes than people usually think, and expects the research and answers. Robert Stencel, Frederick Grifford and Eleanor Moron in 1976 suggested that the astronomical and cosmological meaning of Angkor Wat is greatly undervalued by modern science. In their work, the temple complex is seen as acting observatory; they have identified 22 lines for visual observation of the Moon and the Sun. Basing on the results of the study of Guy Nafilyan and converting them to the presentation in the usual for the ancient Khmer measure of length - elbow (0,435 meters) or hut, the authors argue that many of the proportions of the temple are very accurately correspond to the calendar and cosmological time cycles. On the basis of this hypothesis many proponents make continuous efforts, apparently, not devoid of meaning, to link the architectural proportionality of Angkor Wat with the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the most extensive and ancient of the Upanishads, which tells about the underlying fundamentals of the universe. But beyond all go notorious Graham Hancock and Santa Faya, connecting to the global plan the building of the Egyptian pyramids, the temples of Angkor and the Mayan temples.

The latter defect is devoid of the aura of mystery, but also important for understanding the monument. The second tier of the pyramid of Angkor Wat is linked with the gallery of the first floor by startlingly original vestibules. It can be reached by following the "Royal Way", that is, through the main entrance along the axial line running from west to east.

Gopuram of the first and second tiers as well as covered corridors linking them to triple entrances, form a square divided by an equilateral cross in its center. The crossing central transitions form four courtyards, opening from the inner side with a double row of columns, forming indoor galleries almost three meters wide. The nave of the crossing central galleries is 25 centimeters wider than that of the side ones, and four rows of columns create a whole floor 7.7 meters wide which is incredible for a false arch! This was possible thanks to the fact that the tops of the columns have ornamented monolithic lintels that provide extra rigidity to the assembly, thus creating such heavy false arches.

Vizerra team meticulously restored these lintels in paired columns, but lost sight of the odd columns, which are connected with magnificent diagonal lintels.

The absence of this excellent stylistic detail makes it the fourth bug.

Study of Angkor Wat model was very helpful in my work. Indeed, the ability to be in the Angkor Wat in no time is a great deal. It is impossible to make pictures of every corner; some of the details will still be missed. Such a situation arose several times with me, so my appreciation to the talented Vizerra team knows no boundaries.

When I almost finished work on this article, I took more time to read “Virtual or Reality? 12 Amazing 3D comparison photos at Angkor Wat” by Kent Davis and unexpectedly discovered one more flaw: “I actually couldn't wait for Vizerra to invent the "virtual ice cold Angkor beer." Sorry.” Of course, Vizerra could hurry up with it! And while this beer is not invented, I would like to offer you this...

The text of article and photographs © Yaroslav Makaev