The Hidden Paintings of Angkor Wat

May 29, 2014 4:16 PM

Hidden Paintings Revealed at Ancient Temple of Angkor Wat. "New, digitally enhanced images reveal detailed murals at Angkor Wat showing elephants, deities, boats, orchestral ensembles and people riding horses — all invisible to the naked eye." [Via]
posted by homunculus (7 comments total)

This is so cool! I wonder if it would be faster in MATLAB?
posted by oceanjesse at 4:58 PM on May 29, 2014

Enhance! But yeah, technology can enhance groan our understanding of old art e.g. the traces of colour on marble statues (previously).
posted by ersatz at 4:58 PM on May 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

all invisible to the naked eye

Actually, as the before/after shots show, they're all visible but very faint to the naked eye.
posted by yoink at 5:53 PM on May 29, 2014

Darn that's cool.
(Where have I heard of this temple? Oh yes, Civ IV or possibly Civ V.)
posted by Glinn at 7:04 PM on May 29, 2014

The existence of invisible paintings always beguiles me.
posted by Halogenhat at 7:45 PM on May 29, 2014

Angkor Wat Might Be the Prettiest Street View Yet
posted by homunculus at 7:58 PM on May 29, 2014

Angkor Wat Might Be the Prettiest Street View Yet

I've been to Angkor Wat and a pile of other Cambodian sites, and I was astonished, a few weeks, ago, to find that not only is Angkor Wat on Google Street View, but actually just about every significant temple in the whole country...

(I was trying to take a screenshot to demonstrate this, but the new Google Maps doesn't make seeing where Street View is available very easy, or linking to maps. But it's true. Go on, try it.)
posted by Jimbob at 9:43 PM on May 29, 2014