Journey to the ancient religious complex of Angkor Wat in the jungles of Cambodia. A "city of temples" that reveals itself through a vast labyrinth of carved facades, galleries, and stairways. See All National Geographic Videos http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/?source=4001

Journey to the ancient religious complex of Angkor Wat in the jungles of Cambodia. A "city of temples" that reveals itself through a vast labyrinth of carved facades, galleries, and stairways. See All National Geographic Videos http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/?source=4001 less

Visit of / Visite de / Besuch von / Visita de / Chiamata di de Baalbek & Anjar زياره بعلبك / Baalbekの訪問 / Baalbek의 방문 /... more

Visit of / Visite de / Besuch von / Visita de / Chiamata di de Baalbek & Anjar زياره بعلبك / Baalbekの訪問 / Baalbek의 방문 / 访问巴勒贝克 Baalbek (Arabic: بعلبك‎) is a town in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, altitude 3,850 ft (1,170 m), situated east of the Litani River. It is famous for its exquisitely detailed but monumentally scaled temple ruins of the Roman period, when Baalbek, known as Heliopolis was one of the largest sanctuaries in the Empire. It is located at 34°00′22″N, 36°12′31″E about 200 km east of Beirut. At present, Baalbek serves as the primary center of the Shia population of the Bekaa Valley and one of the main training camps for the Hizbullah forces. Heliopolis (there was another Heliopolis in Egypt) was made a colonia by the Roman Empire in 15 BC and a legion was stationed there. Work on the religious complex there lasted over a century and a half and was never completed. The dedication of the present temple ruins, the largest religious building in the entire Roman empire, dates from the reign of Septimus Severus, whose coins first show the two temples. The great courts of approach were not finished before the reigns of Caracalla and Philip. In commemoration, no doubt, of the dedication of the new sanctuaries, Severus conferred the rights of the jus italicum on the city. Today, only six Corinthian columns remain standing. Eight more were disassembled and shipped to Constantinople under Justinian's orders, for his basilica of Hagia Sophia. The greatest of the three temples was sacred to Jupiter Baal, ("Heliopolitan Zeus"), identified here with the sun, with whom were associated a temple to Venus and a lesser temple in honor of Bacchus (though it was traditionally referred to by Neoclassical visitors as "Temple of the Sun"). Thus three Eastern deities were worshipped in Roman guise: thundering Jove, the god of storms, stood in for Baal-Hadad, Venus for 'Ashtart (known in English as Astarte) and Bacchus for Anatolian Dionysus. Jupiter-Baal was represented locally (on coinage) as a beardless god in long scaly drapery, holding a whip in his right hand and thunderbolts and ears of wheat in his left. Two bulls supported him. In this guise he passed into European worship in the 3rd century and 4th century AD. The icon of Helipolitan Zeus (in A.B. Cook, Zeus, i:570-576) bore busts of the seven planetary powers on the front of the pillarlike term in which he was encased. A bronze statuette of this Heliopolitan Zeus was discovered at Tortosa, Spain; another was found at Byblos in Phoenicia. A comparable iconic image is the Lady of Ephesus (see illustration) (Robert Graves, The Greek Myths I.4). The extreme licence of the Heliopolitan worship of Aphrodite was often commented upon by early Christian writers, and Constantine, making an effort to curb the Venus cult, built a basilica. Theodosius I erected another, with a western apse, occupying the main court of the Jupiter temple, as was Christian practice everywhere. The vast stone blocks of its walls were taken from the temple itself. Today nothing of the Theodosian basilica remains. Other Emperors enriched the sanctuary of Heliopolitan Jupiter each in turn. Nero (54-68 BC) built the tower-altar opposite the Temple of Jupiter, Trajan added the forecourt to the Temple of Jupiter, with porticos of pink granite brought from Aswan in Egypt. Antoninus Pius built the Temple of Bacchus, the best preserved of the sanctuary's structures, for it was protected by the very rubble of the site's ruins. It is enriched with refined reliefs and sculpture. Septimus Severus added a pentagonal Temple of Venus, who as Aphrodite had enjoyed an early Syrian role with her consort Adonis ("Lord," the Aramaic translation of "Baal."). Christian writers competed with one another to execrate her worship. Eusebius of Caesarea, down the coast, averred that 'men and women vie with one another to honour their shameless goddess; husbands and fathers let their wives and daughters publicly prostitute themselves to please Astarte'. Emperor Philip the Arab (244-249) was the last to add a monument at Heliopolis— the hexagonal forecourt. When he was finished Heliopolis and Praeneste in Italy were the two largest sanctuaries in the Western world. (wikipedia) VALPARD FILMS http://valpardfilms.free.fr less

A photo and video tour through the rooms of various Temples constructed to the Lord by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Latter-day Saints... more

A photo and video tour through the rooms of various Temples constructed to the Lord by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Latter-day Saints (Mormons) worship in chapels in their local communities on Sundays, while the highest sacraments of the faith, such as eternal marriage, are performed in Temples, which are set apart from the world as sacred, and holy--The House of the Lord. less

Why did the Maya abandon their magnificent city of Chichen Itza? See All National Geographic Videos http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/?source=4001

Why did the Maya abandon their magnificent city of Chichen Itza? See All National Geographic Videos http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/?source=4001 less

This video is for those that want to see how beautiful the LDS Temples are.

This video is for those that want to see how beautiful the LDS Temples are. less

Off of the "2112" album...

Off of the "2112" album... less

A bit of a sappy romance amv, but good none the less. Images are from Underworld and Underworld: Evolution. Song is Temples Of Gold by Kamelot.

A bit of a sappy romance amv, but good none the less. Images are from Underworld and Underworld: Evolution. Song is Temples Of Gold by Kamelot. less

Happened to see the campaign for new seven wonders. Finally, some New7Wonders got selected which are: 1) not democratically elected (one person can vote for... more

Happened to see the campaign for new seven wonders. Finally, some New7Wonders got selected which are: 1) not democratically elected (one person can vote for any candidate million times) 2) not elected by every single citizen of this WORLD 3) got elected by particular countries by means of extensive use of campaigns, kiosks, SMS, internet, etc. 4) got voted for sentimental reasons There are so many other monuments got omitted simply because lack of knowledge and research work. Tomorrow some other COMMERCIAL organizations come and do the same thing. Every seven months New7Wonders! Again SMS, mails, kiosks, etc. In this video, you can see some real living architectural wonders of Tamil Nadu, South India. They are not only places of architectural beauty, but also home for millennia old wonderful art, music, dance, painting and literature forms ever known to human kind. less

From our trip around North India. Khajuraho temples with many sculptures in erotic positions. November 2006. Khajuraho (Hindi: खजुराहो) is a... more

From our trip around North India. Khajuraho temples with many sculptures in erotic positions. November 2006. Khajuraho (Hindi: खजुराहो) is a village in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, located in Chhatarpur District, about 385 miles (620 kilometres) southeast of Delhi, the capital city of India. The Khajuraho group of monuments has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. One of the most popular tourist destinations in India, Khajuraho has the largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous for their erotic sculpture. The name Khajuraho is derived from the Hindi word khajur meaning date palm. The city was once the original capital of the Chandela Rajputs, a Hindu dynasty that ruled this part of India from the 10th to the 12th centuries. The Khajuraho temples were built over a span of a hundred years, from 950 to 1050. The Chandela capital was moved to Mahoba after this time, but Khajuraho continued to flourish for some time. The whole area was enclosed by a wall with eight gates, each flanked by two golden palm trees. There were originally over 80 Hindu temples, of which only 22 now stand in a reasonable state of preservation, scattered over an area of about 8 square miles (21 km²). Unlike other cultural centers of North India, the temples of Khajuraho never underwent massive destruction and a number of them have survived. They are fine examples of Indian architectural styles that have gained popularity due to their salacious depiction of the traditional way of life during medieval times. They were rediscovered during the late 19th century and the jungles had taken a toll on some of the monuments. The Khajuraho temples do not contain sexual or erotic art inside the temple or near the deities; however, some external carvings bear erotic art. Also, some of the temples that have two layers of walls have small erotic carvings on the outside of the inner wall. There are many interpretations of the erotic carvings. They portray that, for seeing the deity, one must leave his or her sexual desires outside the temple. They also show that divinity, such as the deities of the temples, is pure like the atman, which is not affected by sexual desires and other characteristics of the physical body. It has been suggested that these suggest tantric sexual practices. Meanwhile, the external curvature and carvings of the temples depict humans, human bodies, and the changes that occur in human bodies, as well as facts of life. Some 10% of the carvings contain sexual themes; those reportedly do not show deities, they show sexual activities between people. The rest depict the everyday life of the common Indian of the time when the carvings were made, and of various activities of other beings. For example, those depictions show women putting on makeup, musicians, potters, farmers, and other folks. Those mundane scenes are all at some distance from the temple deities. A common misconception is that, since the old structures with carvings in Khajuraho are temples, the carvings depict sex between deities. Between 950 and 1050, the Chandela monarchs built these temples when the Tantric tradition may have been accepted . Adherents of Tantrism teach that gratification of earthly desires is a step towards accomplishing Nirvana. In olden days, before the Mughal conquests, when boys lived in hermitages, following brahmacharitva until they became men, they could learn about the world and prepare themselves to become householders through examining these sculptures and the worldly desires they depicted. less

1999 Angkor Wat (Siem Reap, Cambodia) Angkor Wat (or Angkor Vat) is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia, built for king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as... more

1999 Angkor Wat (Siem Reap, Cambodia) Angkor Wat (or Angkor Vat) is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia, built for king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. The largest and best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre—first Hindu, then Buddhist—since its foundation. The temple is the epitome of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple mountain and the later galleried temples. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the gods in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 km (2.2 miles) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. As well as for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, the temple is admired for its extensive bas-reliefs and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls. The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman II (ruled 1113--c. 1150). Dedicated to Vishnu, it was built as the king's state temple and capital city. As neither the foundation stela nor any contemporary inscriptions referring to the temple have been found, its original name is unknown. It is located 5.5 km north of the modern town of Siem Reap, and a short distance south and slightly east of the previous capital, which was centred on the Baphuon. Work seems to have come to an end on the king's death, with some of the bas-reliefs unfinished. [1] In 1177 Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the traditional enemies of the Khmer. Thereafter the empire was restored by a new king, Jayavarman VII, who established a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) which lie a few kilometres to the north. In the 14th or 15th century the temple was converted to Theravada Buddhist use, which continues to the present day. Angkor Wat is unusual among the Angkor temples in that although it was somewhat neglected after the 16th century it was never completely abandoned. Its moat also provided some protection from encroachment by the jungle.[2] Around this time the temple was known as Preah Pisnulok, after the posthumous title of Suryavarman. The modern name, in use by the 16th century,[3] means "City Temple": Angkor is a vernacular form of the word nokor which comes from the Sanskrit word nagara (capital), while wat is the Khmer word for temple. One of the first Western visitors to the temple was Antonio da Magdalena, a Portuguese monk who visited in 1586 and said that it "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of".[4] However, the temple was popularised in the West only in the mid-19th century on the publication of Henri Mouhot's travel notes. The French explorer wrote of it: One of these temples—a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo—might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged.[5] Mouhot, like other early Western visitors, was unable to believe that the Khmers could have built the temple, and mistakenly dated it to around the same era as Rome. The true history of Angkor Wat was pieced together only from stylistic and epigraphic evidence accumulated during the subsequent clearing and restoration work carried out across the whole Angkor site. Angkor Wat required considerable restoration in the 20th century, mainly the removal of accumulated earth and vegetation.[6] Work was interrupted by the civil war and Khmer Rouge control of the country during the 1970s and 1980s, but relatively little damage was done during this period other than the theft and destruction of mostly post-Angkorian statues.[7] The temple has become a symbol of Cambodia, and is a source of great pride for the country's people. A depiction of Angkor Wat has been a part of every Cambodian national flag since the introduction of the first version circa 1863[8]—the only building to appear on any national flag.[9] In January 2003 riots erupted in Phnom Penh when a false rumour circulated that a Thai soap opera actress had claimed that Angkor Wat belonged to Thailand (wikipedia) VALPARD FILMS http://valpardfilms.free.fr/ less