The Queen's Palace (banteaysrei, which means "women's castle"), also known as Banteaysrei Temple, is located in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, about 25 kilometers away from the famous Angkor Thom. It is one of the three major temples in Cambodia and is known as the "Pearl of Angkor Monument".

Shiva, one of the three great gods of Brahmanism, was built in 967 and completed in 1002 by the Jayavarma V.

The temple is made of vermilion sandstone, full of exquisite reliefs, and is known as the "Angkor Art Gem". The scale and size are smaller than other Angkor monuments, and it is generally believed that the name "Women's Castle" originated.

The Queen's Palace is known for its bright colors and exquisite reliefs. It is one of the most unique and exquisite architectural complexes in Angkor monuments. Banteaysrei means "women's castle", which is probably built and carved by women. This may be because the carvings here are too exquisite, unlike those made by men.

There are also some doubts about its construction age. Some scholars believe that such superb craftsmanship far exceeds the level of other 10th century buildings, and is more like works from the 13th to 14th centuries.

The Queen's Palace is not large in size, but the moat is also excavated around it. The existing main building includes three central towers and a large library, and all the exterior walls are covered with exquisite carvings. The Queen's Palace is the first building that successfully uses the "original return" restoration method. Later, this method was widely used in the restoration of other monuments in Angkor Wat.

Tips: Given its extremely bright colors, the best time for shooting at the Queen's Palace is from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

But the best time of the morning is always packed with tour groups, and if you go in the morning, you should avoid it about an hour in advance. You should go away from it on a clear noon, and walking through the unshaded red sandstone building will feel as hot as roasting on a charcoal fire.

According to the inscription, the Queen's Palace was built in 967 AD and was built during the reign of Jayavarma V of the Angkor Dynasty (reigned from 968 to 1001 AD). It was originally named "Shiva Palace". One of the three pagodas worshiped God Shiva.

The Queen's Palace faces west and east, 200 meters long and about 100 meters wide. There are three layers of walls made of red sand and gravel inside and outside, about 50 meters from the main gate to the middle gate. There are two rows of symmetrical vermilion stone pillars more than 2 meters high on both sides of the avenue. There are three stone arches in the east of the second wall. There are a bamboo-like stone pillar and a flower-shaped stone pillar on both sides of the middle gate, and a mountain-shaped door eyebrows are on it.

There are many statues of warriors, which describe a story about war. There are three arches in the east of the third wall, and the middle arch also has flowered door posts and double-layer mountain-shaped door eyebrows. There are two windows between the arches, each with five bamboo-shaped window lattices embedded in it. The stone door is the center of the Queen's Palace, and the three vermilion bell-shaped temple towers are connected by a huge stone foundation.

There are symmetrical side halls on both sides, and stone terraces and stone screens. All buildings are carved with various patterns and decorations. Three side-by-side temple pagodas are built on a base of more than 1 meter high. Each pagoda has one door in the east, south and north, and the door is only 1.2 meters high. There are 7 Naga snakes on the door looking forward to alert. All pilgrims must bend over and kneel before entering.

There is a pair of stone patron saints in front of each door, and there are samurai holding spears and fairies decorated with garlands on both sides of the walls. Among these three bell-shaped temple pagodas, one is the highest in the middle, about 10 meters, and the inside is the Lord Shiva. The one to the south is the God of Brahma, and the other to the north is the Lord Vishnu.

The temple pagoda is 5 floors high. Each floor is decorated with various statues of gods, ghosts, and Rakshasa. It has different shapes. The base of the tower, the shrines and gate towers on both sides are also reliefs of various shapes. Most of the contents are recorded in the life scenes of the ancient Khmer people and the battle scenes that resist foreign invasions. On a huge shrine on the right side of the temple pagoda, a stone sculpture "battle elephant picture" is completely preserved.

This picture reappears the battle scenes of the Khmer people fighting against foreign invasion on the stone walls. There is a pair of guardian lion stone sculptures in front of each floor of the temple pagoda, holding weapons in the right hand. The left hand is pressed on the left knee on the kneeling ground, and the right leg is half-squat. Some of the heads look like beasts, some are like ghosts, and they are strong and brave. They are the guardians of the three great masters of the Brahmins.

The goddess on the relief sculpture of the Queen's Palace was built in 967 AD. The Queen's Palace was the only major temple built by Angkor at that time. Its builder was yajnavaraha, a minister of King Rajandravama.

According to the records of the cornerstone, yajnyavaraha was both a scholar and a philanthropist, helping the people to illness, grievances or poverty. The temple turned out to be a town called isvarapura.

The Queen's Palace mainly worships the Hindu Lord Shiva, whose original name was t-ribhuvanamahesvara - the master of the triple world - that is, the Lord Shiva it worships. However, now the building of the Queen's Palace seems to be divided into two parts: the part south of the East and West axis is dedicated to Shiva, while the building north is dedicated to Vishnu.

The current name of the temple, "Queen's Palace", may come from the exquisite reliefs of the architectural wall decoration and the small scale of the building. Some people also speculate that this name is derived from the goddess on the relief.

The Queen's Palace has neatly laid out, harmoniously, with a unique shape, and a unique structure. The entire palace and the walls are all made of vermilion sand and stone, and some stones weigh several tons.

The whole building is ingenious and unique. There are two statements about the origin of the name of the Queen's Palace. One statement is that it was built by a woman, because each stone is carved with exquisite patterns and patterns, and the shape of each stone statue is very clever and realistic. Only a woman with a skillful mind can create such exquisite works of art.

Another saying is that this is a palace where concubines live. During the Angkor Dynasty, Cambodia often fought with neighboring countries, so the palace was built far away from the Angkor royal city to hide the beauties of the harem during the war.

The Queen's Palace was further expanded and renovated in the 11th century. To some extent, the King dominated the transformation project; according to an inscription from the 12th century, the Queen's Palace was given to the monk divarakapandita and worshipped Shiva.

It was not until 1914 that the Queen's Palace was discovered by Westerners. In 1923, French writer Malro stole four statues from the Queen's Palace, and the case caused a sensation. Malro was quickly arrested, and the stolen statue was immediately sent back to Cambodia.

This incident aroused people's interest in the Queen's Palace, and then the building of the Queen's Palace was cleaned up. The restoration method of the Central Plains was also used for the first time in major projects. People initially speculated based on the exquisite relief of the Queen's Palace, and the hypothesis was overturned after the discovery of the cornerstone in 1936.

From 2000 to 2003, in order to prevent rainwater erosion, the Queen's Palace protection project jointly organized by Cambodia and Switzerland installed drainage systems for the building. Some measures were also taken to prevent the building from being damaged by surrounding trees. However, the Queen's Palace has been unfortunately damaged by theft of cultural relics.

At the end of the 20th century, Cambodian authorities removed some original statues and replaced them with replicas, and the thieves shifted their targets to the replicas. A statue of Shiva and her female incarnation of Uma in the Queen's Palace was moved to the National Museum in Phnom Penh for protection, but was destroyed in the museum.

Material: Unlike the blue sandstone used in most Angkor monuments, the Queen's Palace is built with Khmer's unique red clay, with extremely bright colors. Red clay containing a large amount of moisture is not only convenient for transportation, construction, but also conducive to carving complex and delicate patterns. After the building is completed, it becomes extremely hard after air drying and will not be damaged for thousands of years.

Relief: The walls, columns, door lintels and other architectural surfaces of the Queen's Palace are almost completely covered by reliefs, without any gaps. The relief knife of the Queen's Palace is smooth and delicate, with complex and round shapes, delicate and soft lines, and bright and charming colors. It is the first among all Angkor reliefs and is known as the "Diamond of Angkor Art".

Among them, Absara is elegant in posture, as famous as the Absara reliefs in Angkor Temple. Edit this section. Building materials and styles. Queen Qubro Palace uses a lot of red sandstone as building materials, which can be carved like wood. Bricks and iron alumina are only used for fences and some structural elements. The most well-known is its exquisite sandstone lintels and gable walls.

The gabled wall stands on the square door frame. The gabled wall of the Queen's Palace is particularly large and magnificent than the door frame. In the history of Khmer architecture, the Queen's Palace carved myths on the gabled wall for the first time. The lintels spanned between two door posts, some used to support the structure above, while others were purely for decoration.

The lintels of the Queen's Palace are decorated with exquisite reliefs, which are enough to match the 9th-century carvings of Shenniu Temple. Reliefs worth looking at include the monster Kara with teeth grinning (a symbol of time), the guards of the temple, goddesses and flying sky, fake doors and windows, etc. In fact, the reliefs decorate almost every inch of the surface of the building. Edit this section of the architectural layout.

The gabled wall of the gate faces the east like most Khmer temples. When you step into the easternmost Qubluo (archway, gopura), you can see a 67-meter paving path leading to the main building complex of the Queen's Palace. The main building complex is surrounded by a three-story courtyard (enclosure).

The temple is in the innermost courtyard, and there are two small buildings, usually called libraries, to the northeast and southeast of the temple.

The Queen's Palace was originally located outside the existing three-story courtyard, and there was another wall separating the temple from the town. The outer wall now only has an arch (i.e. the easternmost Qubro), which was originally built of wood. People believe that according to this wall, the Queen's Palace area is about 500 square meters.
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