42. Phnom Da

Title Thumbnail: Prasart Phnom Da, Source: Facebook page "ASEAN Heritage & History," Access Date: Sep.27, 2021, & Hero Image: Prasart Phnom Da, took a picture on Dec.03, 2022
42. Phnom Da⁰¹.

First revision: Sep.27, 2021

Last change: Mar.07, 2023

Searched, Gathered, Rearranged, and Compiled by Apirak Kanchanakongkha.

       Date: 12th Century CE (on the foundation of late 6th - early 7th century structure)
       A hill called "Phnom Da" (phnom means "mountain" and da means "rock or stone") is located to the South of Angkor Borei, the capital of Funan (from early 1st to late 6th century CE), which was an earlier state of the Khmer civilization. It is the most important symbolic site of Brahmanical Funan. The hill's summit was crowned with a temple named Phnom Da, initially dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu.
       The temple opens to the North in a rectangular plan; the basement and walls were constructed of laterite, and the roof in brick and adored with decorated sandstone elements consisting of the main door - doorframes, colonnettes, lintel, and pediments. According to its architectural design and decorations, this temple can be dated from the twelfth century or slightly earlier on the trace elements of the original Funan's foundational structure (probably from the late 6th to early 7th century CE). This sanctuary is typed as the most significant inner space of a currently known Khmer monument. The remarkable evidence of a pedestal and Phnom Da-style statues, eight-arm Vishnu (2.70 meters in height) with another two statues, found within this chamber, gives a clue to the continued religious practices associated with the Hindu Vishnu gods of Brahmanism of Funan. Those three statues are exhibited in the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, and fragments of the architectural elements (pediment and lintel depicted Vishnu myths, dated in 12th century CE) are housed at the Angkor Borei Museum and Guimet Museum of Asian Art in Paris, France.
   The aging of the building and war have caused damage to the sanctuary. In 2016, Phnom Da was among 24 sites in the southern region of Cambodia which was selected for risk mapping and monitoring by the General Department of Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts with the financial support of "The Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation-2016". In 2018, this project shared funds from the Ambassadors Fund for structural stabilization of the highest-risk-level elements of this sanctuary.

Origins, Terminologies, and Descriptions.
⁰¹. from. A Signed Board at Prasat Phnom Da Site, Angkor Borei District, Cambodia, Access Date: Dec.03, 2022.

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