Kodak Gold 200 / Pentax ESPIO 90MC (1999-12-02 ~11:30) Click on above image for 1024 screen image (80 KB) or get the full size image (146 KB) |
Even though the temple was the best preserved, it was also the saddest to see all the figures that were defaced by the christians. The splendor previously had to be phenomenal, and the disfigurement must have been a monumental task in itself, taking many man years.
The rectangular indentations in the front were for flag banners, and the square holes in the wall were for ventilation. You can also see hinge housings for the huge doors that once closed the opening, just underneath the large scarab above the doorway.
This photo brought up a special problem for me. Usually, I did not notice when a photograph was slightly askew, however, when I scanned it, and put it on a computer monitor where everything was aligned, I could easily notice misalignment less than a degree. For most the images, I was able to find a plumb bearing, and rotate the image to be correct. This image had very few plumb lines, as all the walls were angled, and the photograph was also taken from an oblique angle. The best that I could do was to judge that the left most flag indentation was roughly normal from the wall to me, so I adjusted it so that it was vertical. I think a better solution to all this, would be to have a small bubble level on cameras, so that you could ensure that the camera was horizontal when photographs were taken.