The other day we took a little tourist trip to the Royal Palace to get our culture on. The palace is amazingly peaceful the second you walk in the front door. The gardens are lined with statues and the only healthy looking vegetation in the city. We tried to take pictures of everything we could, unfortunately in a lot of the buildings photography is prohibited. That included the Silver Pagoda AND the Royal Throne Room.
The first building that we entered was the Throne Room, only after removing our shoes. The inside of the building made it obvious we were in prestigious quarters. Picture a ceiling similar to the Sistine Chapel in terms of intricate paintings and height in a building filled with gold statues, gold furniture and gold offering tables. The throne in the center of the back of the room looked like it was solid gold and sat about 4 to 5 feet from the ground. The center of the building was roped off. We were only allowed to cruise around the perimeter in the front of the building. After the Throne Room we walked over to a smaller building next door. In this room they kept some of traditional clothing, pottery, and other royal heirlooms. Some of which included a gold covered his and hers outfits, gold teapots, and other gold covered figurines and statues. Another building in the main garden area was a pavilion used for traditional ceremony and dances. We were not allowed to enter this building, but I was able to take several photos from the outside of the amazing detail of some of the statues that were at the top of every pillar on this building. On the way out we saw a large iron structure covered by scaffolding and blue tarp. This building was apparently donated by Napolean Bonaparte. It stuck out like a sore thumb because the design of the building was completely different from those surrounding it. The building looked like the plucked it straight out of France and dropped it in the middle of the courtyard. From here we shimmied on over to the second garden area. In this area, the main attractions were the statue of King Norodom as well as the Silver Pagoda. Other incredible features of this area included numerous massive, grey offering pillars, shrines to several different deities (a cow for one), and an extremely detailed and impressive miniaturized statue of Angkor Wat. The offering pillars were roughly the height of a 3 story building and each uniquely engraved with gods. The statue of the King stood in front of the Silver Pagoda, it appeared to be constructed during the French Occupation because the name of the King was carved in French. The miniature Angkor Wat was one of the coolest parts of our self tour. A scale model of Angkor Wat, apparently perfectly identical, which made me even more excited to see the real thing than before. This model sat right behind the Silver Pagoda, our next stop on the tour. The Silver Pagoda is another building that allows no pictures to be taken, as well as no shoes worn. The floors of this building are covered by thousands of silver tiles, hence the name “Silver Pagoda.” It appeared to be damaged or aging as the majority of the floor was covered with carpets exposing only small portions of silver tiling. As you walk across it you can feel some of the tiles shift beneath your feet. Also housed in this building were glass cases containing hundreds of figurines, statues, and very interesting decorations for shrines. Most of these were made of gold or silver and many of the figurines have been decapitated. These beheadings occurred during the Khmer Rouge massacres. Another incredible feature within the Silver Pagoda is an extremely large shrine for offerings, located in the center of the room, reaching nearly to the roof of the building. The Silver Pagoda basically concluded our trip to the Royal Palace.
Some of the other smaller features of our trip included showcases in modern buildings (with air conditioning) that showed typical clothing worn by royalty, the different styles of “howda”, which were basically elephant saddles, used by past kings and royalty, and a room of glass cases filled to the edges with carvings of elephants in different mediums (marble, wood, and precious metals). Since many of the main attractions are for eyes only, not cameras, it is truly a place requiring more than just our words to describe.
(More pics coming soon!)
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