ART AND CULTURE
Throughout
Cambodia’s history, religious principles guided and inspired its arts. A unique
Khmer style emerged from the combination of indigenous animistic beliefs and the
originally Indian religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. These two religions, along
with the Sanskrit language and other elements of Indian civilization, arrived in
mainland Southeast Asia during the first few centuries ad. Seafaring merchants
following the coast from India to China brought them to the port cities along
the Gulf of Thailand, which were then controlled by the state of Funan in
Cambodia. At varying times, Cambodian culture also absorbed Javanese, Chinese,
and Thai influences.Between the 9th and 15th centuries, a prosperous and
powerful empire flourished in northwestern Cambodia. The Khmer kingdom of
Angkor, named for its capital city, dominated much of what is now Laos, Vietnam,
and Thailand. The kingdom drew its religious and political inspiration from
India. The literary language of the court was Sanskrit; the spoken language was
Khmer. Massive temples from this period, including Angkor Wat and the Bayon at
Angkor Thum, testify to the power of Angkor and the grandeur of its architecture
and decorative art. The unparalleled achievements in art, architecture, music,
and dance during this period served as models for later cultural development in
Cambodia.Angkor faded into obscurity after the capital moved south to Phnom Penh
in the 15th century, probably due in part to frequent invasions by the
neighboring Thais. The jungle rapidly grew over the monuments. In the centuries
that followed, frequent wars reduced the territory, wealth, and power of
Cambodian monarchs. However, an independent state with its capital near Phnom
Penh survived until the 19th century. The most important work of Cambodian
literature, the Reamker (a Khmer-language version of the Indian myth of the
Ramayana), was composed during this time. France, which began administering
Cambodia in 1863, rediscovered the temples at Angkor and worked to preserve them
beginning in the early 20th century. Cambodia’s traditional culture and the
monuments of Angkor were endangered between 1970 and 1990 due to civil war. The
Communist Khmer Rouge regime, which opposed and mistrusted religion and
education, banned all of Cambodia’s traditional arts and its written language.
Since 1991, when Cambodia’s warring factions signed a peace accord,
international organizations have helped the Cambodian government restore the
sites at Angkor and revive Cambodia’s traditional crafts.
Myths and legends passed down orally through the generations form the heart of
Cambodian literature. These popular legends are based on the great epics of
ancient India, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, and on the Jataka tales,
stories about the previous lives of the Buddha. Episodes from the Reamker have
been portrayed throughout history in all Cambodian arts, from scenes carved in
stone at Angkor to mural paintings on the enclosure wall of the Royal Palace at
Phnom Penh. Cambodia’s earliest written documents are stone slabs inscribed in
Sanskrit (dating from the 6th century) and Khmer (dating from the early 7th
century), which provide a genealogy of Khmer kings and their endowments to the
temples.
The first Cambodian novel, Suphat, by Rim Kin, was published in 1938 after the
French introduced printing techniques to Cambodia. During the Khmer Rouge
regime, literature was restricted to poems, written on themes of peasant and
agricultural development, and revolutionary songs. Most Cambodian literary works
published during the late 20th century were written by Cambodian refugees living
abroad, mainly in France and Thailand
Khmer
classical dance derived from Indian court dance, which traces its origins to the
apsarases of Hindu mythology, heavenly
female nymphs who were born to dance for
the gods. The traditions of Thailand and Java (in Indonesia) also influenced the
music and dance of Cambodia. In classical Cambodian dance, women, dressed in
brightly colored costumes with elaborate headdresses, perform slow, graceful
movements accompanied by a percussive ensemble known as the pinpeat. Pinpeat
orchestras include drums, gongs, and bamboo xylophones. In Cambodia’s villages,
plays performed by actors wearing masks are popular. Shadow plays, performed
using black leather puppets that enact scenes from the Reamker, are also
enjoyed. Folk dancing is popular in rural Cambodia and is performed
spontaneously to a drumbeat.
The Khmer Rouge closed cultural institutions
during their rule, but many were reopened in the 1980s. The National Museum of
Cambodia in Phnom Penh is Cambodia’s largest museum, with objects dating from
prehistory to the 18th century. The museum houses the largest collection of
Khmer art in the world and is renowned for its Angkor-era bronze and stone
images. The museum’s
exhibits also include ceramics, wooden ornaments, musical instruments, weaving
looms, lacquer, and silver. The University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh is
responsible for preserving Khmer culture. It has reopened with departments in
music, dance, painting, architecture, and the plastic arts.The Tuol Sleng Museum
(Museum of Genocide), also in Phnom Penh, is a former high school that was used
by the Khmer Rouge as a killing center and since then has been converted into a
museum. Displays focus on the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge and include torture
instruments and photographs of those killed.
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