The Temple of the Cow is located about 13 kilometers east of Siem Reap City. It is named after the stone cow kneeling in front of the temple tower. It was built by Indravarman I at the end of the 9th century to enshrine Lord Shiva and the ancestors of the king. It is the second most important building in the Rollos group, after the Bakong Temple in the south. The entire temple was severely damaged, only the six brick towers in the center are still intact, but you can admire the well-preserved plaster reliefs in the Angkor monuments. The entrance of Shenniu Temple faces east, but the East Pagoda Gate has long been in ruins, and the wall connecting the Pagoda Gate has collapsed. You can walk to the central hall along a long red clay approach road. There is a long hall on the north and south sides of the approach road that has almost been razed to the ground. Continue to move forward, there is a dilapidated Tibetan scripture pavilion in the south. The play guide walked to the end of the approach road, passed a tower gate with only the base left, and arrived in front of the central hall. On a sandstone plinth, six brick towers are arranged in two rows facing east. There are three rows of steps in front of the platform, leading to the main entrance of the first row of brick towers, and a stone lion is sitting on each side of the steps. And just in front of the steps below the steps is a stone cow Nandi (Nandi), which is the mount of Lord Shiva. The six brick pagodas are all decorated with sandstone and gypsum stone carvings, and have the same shape. The bottom is a square base, and the top is a pyramid. The east-facing main entrance has octagonal stone doorposts on both sides, and the ancient Indian Sanskrit is meticulously engraved. The towers in the front row are dedicated to the three kings, with statues of male gods; the back row is dedicated to the three queens, with statues of goddesses. You will notice that the central pagoda in the first row is much taller than the other pagodas, and its plaster relief is well preserved among the Angkor monuments. The surface of the early brick towers of Angkor was generally covered with a layer of plaster, which was soft and easy to carve, but it was easy to fall off over time, and this method was no longer used later. Carefully observe the reliefs of these six towers, whether it is the statue of Dvarapala holding a trident or the goddess Devata with a dignified and peaceful face. In addition, the lintel carvings of these brick pagodas are also quite wonderful, telling Hindu myths and legends. Although the Shenniu Temple is not completely preserved, it has an important influence on the architectural art of Angkor, and the architectural style of the Queen's Palace is inherited and developed on this basis.
The temple is the earliest temple in the Angkor area. The main part is six brick tower-shaped buildings, divided into two rows, three seats each. In front of the main building, there are three sculptures of the temple.
Archaeological research Shenniu Temple belongs to the Rolos group, is the beginning of Khmer art, belongs to the Hindu temple, is built on the high platform foundation, there are 6 towers, each tower has Sanskrit engravings, there is a good artistic viewing.
Compared with other Hindu temples, the scale of the Shenniu Temple is much smaller, and there is no magnificent high-desk appearance. The front of the temple is seriously damaged, and the pagoda and the statue of the Shenniu are still preserved. It feels very general.
I scored 5 points for all the attractions, it is worth seeing... Because there is a statue of cattle at the door, it is called Shenniu Temple. Some are being repaired. There is a taste in the middle. It is said that it is the taste of bats and other animals after living...
The peaceful of mind where I was. Those temples are looking beautiful and fitting my eyes.Pheah_Ko
Shenniu Temple is the second important building of the Rollos Site Group. Located 12 kilometers southeast of Siem Reap City, the Rolls Site Group is divided into three sites - "Bagong Temple, Luolai Temple and Shenniu Temple. The Three Pagodas in front worship the male ancestors of Shiva and the king, while the latter three worship the goddess and female ancestors. Shenniu Temple is named after three sandstone bull statues in front of its central temple pagoda. The protagonists of these statues are Nandi, the white bull on which Shiva rides. After the establishment of the Khmer Empire in 802 A.D., King Royal Bama II of Khmer established his capital, Queri Royal, and died thereafter. His nephew, Indra Tamara I, came to power. Because of national strength, many temples were adopted and built by other countries. Shenniu Temple was repaired by German government in the 1990s. In Hindu culture, the God Niu Nandi is the mount of Shiva, so the God Niu Temple is also a temple dedicated to Shiva. In the middle of the Yongdao is "the statue of the God cow", originally there are three statues of the God cow here, one of them has been lost because of serious damage, and the remaining two are also damaged to varying degrees. Indra Bama I was a filial king. When he built his capital at the site of the Luoluo Temple Group, he emphasized that the temple of Shenniu, the ancestral temple for Shiva and ancestors, should be built first, and then the national temple at that time. So Shenniu Temple was also the first temple built in the whole Luoluo Temple Group.
This is Shenniu Temple, built in the ninth century to worship ancestors, there are six pagodas. The Three Pagodas in the front row are: the pagodas on the right side of the sacrifice to the grandfather and on the left side of the sacrifice to the father in the center, and the three pagodas on the back row correspond to the sacrifices to their respective wives. Buildings of that era were mainly made of red bricks and very few stones, while carvings were mainly made on the surface of mortar (white part in the picture) which was not easy to preserve. There were very few existing but the exquisite carvings could be clearly seen. The pagodas were sealed up, and it was not clear whether there were any remains of them. So the buildings of that time were mainly used for sacrifice. In front of the tower, there are three kneeling God cow sculptures highlighting the theme.
The base of Shenniu Temple is a high platform with six towers, each with Sanskrit seal carvings. The tour guide said that the architectural style of the Queen's Palace was inherited and developed on the basis of the style of Shenniu Temple. Cambodia worships cattle, so a temple has been built for them. Shenniu Temple was originally a large scale, but now there is only one palace left.