Phnom Penh៖Recently, a dragon head made of sandstone in the Bayon style was accidentally found when a large pine tree collapsed, causing pieces of dragon heads buried in the ground for many years to emerge. Tree roots in the compound of Wat Tep Pranom, former capital of Angkor Thom. According to the Apsara Authority.
Mr. Chhouk Somala, Head of the Art Registration Team of the Department of Preservation, Archeology and Archeology of the APSARA Authority, said that the dragon’s head was buried in the ground about half a meter deep and apparently the tree that grew on it did not have large glass roots. When it rains, the soil collapses and the head of the dragon with the roots of the tree sprouts.
Mr. Somala said that the fragment of the dragon’s head was only from the dragon to the upper head, which was 1.2 meters long, 1 meter wide and 0.3 meters thick. Dragon face and around both sides. The gourd, on the other hand, had a broken nose and upper arms, as well as parts of the head.
Mr. Chhouk Somala concluded that the dragon head piece could be removed from the Bayon temple, but did not know for what purpose and when. He added that such sculptures were often seen in the Bayon style during the reign of Jayavarman VII, when he combined dragons and Garudas, who were enemies, into one art form. Perhaps he wanted to express the idea of religious unification between Brahmanism and Buddhism, so he asked the architects to combine dragons and garudas together and display them on his buildings.
In order to keep the pieces of the dragon’s head safe, the APSARA Authority cooperated with the Heritage Protection Police and the travel agency to make a record and hand over the pieces to be kept at the Norodom Sihanouk-Angkor Museum for registration as a cleaning document. According to the technique and search for other data related to the dragon head piece, it is easy to put it back to its original location if it is repaired at the lost location.
