In 1993, when a physics professor from Cologne, Germany, visited the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia for the first time he was, like all visitors, deeply impressed and fascinated by the gigantic trees growing there. In his own words:
“These trees in this exceptional size exist only in Angkor Wat. They don’t have a name in any of the languages I know—except their Latin name: Tetrameles nudiflora. Besides the vast temple compound and the huge faces with their enigmatic smiles, these trees are another emblem of Angkor and are among the strongest impressions that one gets. The French call them fromagères because they look like melting cheese. They belong to the botanical family of ficus trees. Angkor was discovered by Westerners in 1860. When the French started to restore Angkor they decided to remove the small vegetation at two temples (Ta Prohm and Preah Khan), but to leave the gigantic trees as they were. One can only guess the age of these trees, since tropical trees do not grow rings that one could simply count. On the oldest photographs, more than one hundred years old, the trees look as they still look now. From all of the photo books I had been able to get hold of, I only knew of the net of roots growing through the temple ruins. My spontaneous reaction was to photograph these trees as vertical panoramas in their impressive beauty.
On my first trip I only had my old Russian panoramic camera with me. Due to its proportions it did not work. The right camera was at home in Cologne. So I wanted to come back. Beginning in 1994 I tried to photograph as many “cheese trees” as possible. Luckily I was able to join a restoration project initiated by Cologne University. I photographed about 35 trees in the four years following. It was good that I had captured them on film, because in the meantime some of them have died of natural causes. They died in storms or were killed by the Strangler Fig (Ficus aurea).”
One asks what the trees of Angkor Wat have seen in the course of their long lives. We don’t know. Neither do we know how long they will last. However, Jaroslav Poncar’s photographs guarantee their survival.
| 1945 | born in Prague and grown up in Litomerice in Northern Bohemia |
| 1962 - 1966 | Technical University Prague, faculty of technical and nuclear physics |
| 1966-1971 | Technical University Aachen, PhD in theoretical physics After PhD graduation freelance photographer for dpa (German Press Agency) in Africa and Arabia |
| 1973 | professor of optics at the Fachhochschule Köln (University of Applied Sciences Cologne) in the department Photoingenieurwesen (imaging sciences and media technologies) - until 2004. Presently at the institute of applied optics and electronics (AOE) |
| Specialised in ´land-and-people-photography´, since 1976 panoramic photography. Diverse projects in documentation of cultural monuments in the Himalayas, Tibet and Cambodia in collaboration with museums, universities and other institutions | |
| 1977-1987 | together with Wolfgang Kohl (cameraman and film producer) documentaries in Yemen, Mali, India, Pakistan and Tibet for the German TV stations |
| 1981-1994 | photographic documentation of the wall paintings in the temples of Alchi (collaboration with Prof. Roger Goepper, Museum of East Asian Art Cologne) and organisation of the SAVE ALCHI PROJECT (conservation works in Alchi) with Prof. Karl Ludwig Dasser (Department of Restoration and Conservation of Cultural Relics at the Fachhochschule Köln |
| 1984 | documentation of the wall paintings in Tabo monastery, Spiti, West Himalayas (published in 1996 by Prof. Deborah Salter from the University of Vienna) |
| 1993 | documentation of the wall paintings in Toling, Guge, West Tibet (invitation by University of Vienna, Institute of Tibetology, Prof. Dr. Salter) |
| participation in the Silk Road project of the German Research Council (Prof. Klimkeit, University Bonn), documentation of the wall paintings in Turfan etc. | |
| 1993-2005 | photographic work in Angkor, Cambodia. In 1995 documentation of the bas-reliefs in Angkor Wat and the Bayon with the slit-scan technique |
| 1996-1998 | photographic work in Mustang (Nepal) for the German Research Coucil (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), project of Niels Gutschow (1996), a private journey to Upper Mustang in 1997 and in 1998 photographic work for the American Himalayan Foundation (documentation of wall paintings in Thubchen and Chamba Lakhang in Lo Monthang) |
| 1996 - 2005 | co-director (with Prof. Dr. Hans Leisen) of the German Apsara Conservation Project (GACP), responsible of photographic documentation of Angkor Wat |
| 2003 -until present | photographic work in Burma |
Exhibits (Selection)
| 2007 | Angkor-Fotografien von Jaroslav Poncar, art73Ratingen |
| 2006 | Sacred Vistas and Ancient Stones Xanadu Gallery, San Francisco |
| Angkor, Galerie Werner Klein, Köln | |
| In Asien, c/o Eva Felten Hittenkirchen am Chiemsee | |
| Touched by India, Künstlerforum Bonn, Bonn | |
| Litomerice a Ceske stredohori ocima studentu z Kolina nad Rynem Divadlo Karla Hynka Machy, Litomerice | |
| Panoramas einer Exkursion nach Litomerice, Nordböhmen, FH Köln | |
| 2005 | In Asien, Galerie Werner Klein, Köln |
| 2003 | Paris, Galerie Blüher, Köln |
| 2002 | Paris à perte de vue, Mairie de IVeme arrondissement, Paris |
| Von Tibet nach Angkor, Art+Form, Dresden | |
| Val de Loire patrimoine de l’humanité, Maison du Loi-et-Cher, Blois | |
| Angkor Reflexionen (mit Malerei von Antonin Malek und Radierungen von Jörg Schmeißer), Kunstverein, Wesseling | |
| 2001 | 25 Jahre mit der FT-2, Galerie Blüher, Köln |
| Val de Loire, patrimoine de l’humanité, Museé de la marine de Loire, Chateauneuf-sur-Loire | |
| Tibet-Panoramas, Museum der Kulturen Basel, Basel | |
| Heritage of Angkor, Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore | |
| Platinabzüge aus Angkor/Panoramas aus Tibet , Kunstverein, Weinheim | |
| Angkor, Indigo Gallery, Kathmandu | |
| 2000 | Heritage of Angkor , National Gallery, Bangkok |
| 1999 | Val de Loire, Hotel de Ville, Tours |
| Himalayan Kingdoms, Indigo Gallery, Kathmandu | |
| 1998 | In Asien, Galerie Blüher, Köln |
| Memoires d’Angkor , Museé Departemental de l‘Abbaye de Saint-Riquie, Saint-Riquier | |
| Val de Loire, Galerie Blüher, Köln | |
| 1997 | Memoires d’Angkor, Bibliotheque Nationale, Luxemburg |
| Panorama of India, Max Müller Bhavan (Goethe Institut), New Delhi | |
| Memoires d’Angkor, UNESCO Hauptquartier, Paris | |
| 1996 | Von Göttern, Königen und Menschen Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum der Stadt Köln, Köln |
| Des dieux, des rois et des hommes, Museé Guimet, Paris | |
| 1994 | Monument der Vergänglichkeit – Angkor Impressionen, Loft, Köln |
| Tibet, Galerie Christel Fahrenhorst, Hameln/ Kunstverein, Düsseldorf | |
| 1991 | Tibet, October Gallery, London |
| 1988 | Tibet – der Teil und das Ganze, Olympus Galerie, Hamburg |
| 1987 | Ladakh – Land der Pässe (mit Radierungen von Jörg Schmeißer), BMW Galerie, München |
| 1986 | Tibet –Fotografien einer Reise, Bergisches Museum Schloß Burg, Wermelskirchen Ladakh (mit Radierungen von Jörg Schmeißer), Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Köln |
| 1978 | Ladakh – das Land der vielen Pässe und Klöster, Informationszentrum der Stadt Brühl, Brühl |
| 1976 | Photographers‘ Gallery, London |
Books/Catalogs (Selection)
Angkor Revisited, Goethe Institute in Bangkok und Singapore, 2006
Paris à perte de vue, RevueK Paris
Alchi - Buddhas, Goddesses, Mandalas , Du Mont Verlag, Köln, 1982
Ladakh - Land of Passes, Wienand Verlag, Köln, 1986
Tibet - Tor zum Himmel, VGS Verlag, Köln, 1988
Of Gods, Kings, and Men, Peter Hammen Verlag, Wuppertal, 1995
Alchi – Ladakh’s Hidden Buddhist Sanctuary, Serindia Publications, London, 1996
The Loire Valley, Emons Verlag, Köln, 1997
Das Tal der Loire, Emons Verlag, Köln, 1997
Panorama of India, Timeless Books, New Delhi, 1998
Tibet, Edition Panorama, Mannheim, 2001
Paris Panoramic, RevueK, Paris, 2002
Tibet, Edition Panorama Bibliothek, Mannheim, 2004
Himalayas – Where Gods and Man Meet, Edition Panorama, Mannheim, 2005
Angkor - a photographic portrait by Jaroslav Poncar, Edition Panorama, Mannheim, 2005
India, Edition Panorama Bibliothek, Mannheim, 2005
Of Gods, Kings, and Men, Edition Panorama and Serindia Publications, 2006
Additional Information
Dokumentarfilme:
Auf den Spuren der Königin von Saba (On the Trail of the Queen of Sheba) (45 min.), 1977
Durch die Eiswildnis des Ost-Karakorums (Through the Ice-Wilds of Eastern Karakorum) (45 min.), 1978
Langer Marsch zur Seeligkeit (Long March to the Salvation - Shiva Pilgrims in the Himalayas) (45 min.), 1979
Der unbekannte Indus (The Unknown Indus) (45 min.), 1980
Deutsche Forscher am Indus (German Researchers in the Indus Valley) (45 min.), 1981
Die anderen Inder - ein Bericht über die Sikhs (The Other Indians - a Report on the Sikhs) (45 min.), 1982
Ladakh - ein Wintermärchen (Ladakh - a Winter Tale) (45 min.), 1982
Djenné - wo Beton tabu ist (Where Cement is Taboo - Djenné) (45 min.), 1982
Tibet - Tor zum Himmel (Tibet - the Gate to Heaven) (90 min.) awarded as best documentary film at the 37th Festival of Film on Mountaineering, Exploration and Adventure in Trento, Italy, 1987
Nomaden in Tibet (The Nomads of Tibet) (45 min.) life of a nomad group in the Kailsh-Manasarowar-Region was presented in the Wissenschafts-Show (Science-Show) by Jean Pütz, 1987
Save Alchi (30 min.), 1989
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