Balinese Temples

There is a temple; the name is Pura Dalem. It is the Kerambitan Temple by the post office. The name of the god there is Dewi Durga. Dewi Durga is like a body guard, and protects all of Kerambitan. [excerpt

Photobook Design of Ancient Temples in Magelang Regency

Indonesia is a country with vast cultural diversity as well as high historical value, due to many historical sites found in various regions including Magelang Regency, Central Java. Beside the largest temple called Borobudur, there are also several others scattered on all places of Magelang. These temples are not yet exposed to the world, namely Lumbung, Asu, Pendem, Gunung Sari, Gunung Wukir, Losari, and any other temples. These temples become the cultural heritage with its own beauty and high historical values with different functions and objectives from each other. The existence of these temples need to be preserved because of its use for science, education, religion and any other aspects. Government Tourism Office have already made an effort in the publication through websites, brochures, and magazines. After analyzing the publication, there are shortcomings in the delivery of the publication through the media. Therefore, to provide historical information and documentation of the temples in Magelang as historical evidence there is a need for putting more effort. The survey was done by the author through questionnaire and interview, the author concludes to use photobook as media to convey the information about these temples and to use photos to document these temples. Keywords Photobook, Ancient Temples, Magelang Regenc

Archaeoastronomy in the Khmer heartland

The heartland of the Khmer empire is literally crowded by magnificent monuments built in the course of many centuries. These monuments include the world-famous state-temples, such as Angkor Wat, but also many other temples and huge water reservoirs. Using Google Earth data as well as GIS data and reconstructing the ancient sky with Stellarium, we investigate here on the relationships of astronomy with orientation and topography in a systematic fashion, following the methods of modern Archaeoastronomy and strictly keeping at a bay vague or esoteric proposals put forward by many authors in the past. As a result, a very clear pattern of cardinal orientation and alignment arises, connected with the temple's symbolism and the management of power by the Khmer kings. As a bonus, the comparison with the Angkor monuments allows to put forward a explanation for the anomalous orientation of the unique two peripheral state temples of Cambodia.Comment: Archaeoastronomy/History of Astronom

Structural vulnerability of Nepalese Pagoda temples

Nepal is located in one of the most severe earthquake prone areas of the world, lying between collisions of Indian to the Eurasian plate, moving continuously, resulting in frequent devastating earthquakes within this region. Moreover, different authors refer mention that the accumulated slip deficit (central seismic gap) is likely to produce large earthquakes in the future. Also, the analysis of the available information of previous earthquakes indicates the potential damage that can occurs in unreinforced traditional masonry structures in future earthquakes. Most of the Nepalese pagoda temples were erected following very simple rules and construction details to accomplish with seismic resistance requirement, or even without any consideration for seismic resistance, during the period of Malla dynasty (1200-1768). Presently, conservation and restoration of ancient monuments are one of the major concerns in order to preserve our built heritage, transferring it to the future generations. The present paper is devoted to outline particular structural fragility characteristics in the historic Nepalese pagoda temples which affect their seismic performance. Moreover, based on the parametric analysis identified structural weaknesses/fragilities of pagoda topology, the associated traditional building technology and constructional details

Living at the Edge: Religion, Capitalism, and the End of the Nation-State in Taiwan

This is a preprint (author's original) version of an article published in the journal Public Culture in 2000. The final version of this article may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/08992363-12-2-477 (login may be required)