Class: F2
Date: 12/10/2014
Compare and Contrast Pyramids of Giza and Angkor Wat
“It is not the beauty of a building you should look at; it’s the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time.” By David Allan Coe
The quotation above means that the beauty of a building is not as important as the construction of the prototypes of its structure. Basically, the development of its foundations and techniques are more important than those of its attractiveness. Meanwhile, Angkor Wat and Pyramids of Giza are two ancient buildings that are able to continue its legacies to the contemporary world. Angkor Wat and the Pyramids of Giza are the examples of the external and internal beauties in which its structures were completed by their respective developed foundation which includes the techniques, social structures, and purposes. There are many variations in their purpose, techniques, and social structures in which these two constructions were built associated with.
Using similar materials, both Angkor Wat and Pyramid of Giza used irrigation systems to assist them in the building processes, but the originality of their architectural designs are differently developed. First, both of these structures were made by huge stone blocks. As stated by Gayle (2012), “The 12th century temple complex, Angkor Wat, is built from five to ten million sandstone blocks weighing up to 1.5 tons that were hewn from quarries at the base of nearby Mount Kulen.” Likewise, the pyramids of Giza also used huge stone blocks as well (Löhner, 2006). As mentioned by Löhner (2006), Khufu, the biggest pyramid of Giza, were structured by more than twenty five hundred thousand stone blocks and each blocks weighted up to 10 tones. Second, Angkor Wat and Giza are located near huge irrigation systems which facilitated them in the movement of material to the construction sites (Löhner, 2006). Angkor Wat was constructed with complex irrigation systems surrounding it that was
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