Anyone who has had the chance to visit Angkor, Cambodia and its temples could not help but be impressed by the stone splendors, echoes of the opulence and grandeur experienced by the Khmer Empire between the 11th and 13th centuries.
The magnificence of the architecture and the richness of the bas-relief sculptures overshadow no small detail: these monumental sanctuaries are the deserted homes of the gold, silver or bronze deities that once inhabited them and were, essentially, their raison d’être. At Angkor, the stone – majestic as it may be – is only the empty setting for the metallic.
The gold and silver statues, melted down, will not reappear. However – and fortunately – bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, a less precious but still noble material sometimes complemented with lead, has allowed a small fraction of these divine representations to reach us.
The “Royal Bronzes of Angkor” exhibition, opening Wednesday, April 30, at the Musée Guimet in Paris, offers a rare opportunity to discover them and, through them, to encounter the sovereigns who commissioned the statues. In addition to works from Guimet and other French museums, 126 pieces are on loan.
Credit: www.lemonde.fr
