It's a bewildering array of statues, artifacts and bas-reliefs that symbolized the power and the glory of the Khmer Empire some 900 years ago. Yet, it has been unveiled, for the first time, to an enraptured world-at the National Gallery of the Grand Palais in Paris.

The "Angkor and Ten Centuries of Khmer Art" exhibition opened in Paris on Jan 31 and will run for four months before moving to Washington and then Japan. The exhibition is organized by the Royal Government of Cambodia, the Reunion des Musees Nationaux (the national body in charge of all museums in France) and the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

"It is an important sign for Cambodia" said French President Jacques Chirac. In fact, the exhibition has created such an impact that at least three newspapers have published special issues on the arts of Angkor, while television and the daily papers like Le Figaro and Le Monde have covered the event with special reports.

And posters showing the head of Jayavarman VII - the greatest of the Khmer rulers known for the haunting Bayon - are plastered over the walls of the metro and the sides of buses.

The statues, displayed in four rooms, are magnificent. sheer magic And why not, for no civilization in Southeast Asia produced such creative splendor and architectural ingenuity. The statue of of Durga opens the exhibition.

An example of the Indian influence on Khmer art, its symmetry and noble refinement has already mesmerized thousands. the freestanding sculptures radiate an uninhabited naturalness: the figures are slender and graceful and lovingly chiseled.

From that point, visitors will experience one surprise after another. Harihara, that brings together three gods, Shiva and Vishnu, was created at the dawn of the Angkorian period. 

One of the most stunning of the exhibits is the lying bronze statue of Vishnu from the Mebon temple. The six-meters long statue, discovered in 1936, must have been cast in several sections. What remains today is the head and a portion of the torso.

A striking feature of the style of this sculpture is the sculptor's breaking with convention by giving an impression of movement and expressiveness. the reclining God was lying on a snake. Zhou Daguan, the Chinese envoy who visited Angkor in 1296,was captivated by it.

Then there are the two heads of Jayavarman VII, and one of Buddha. The head of Jayavarman VII- a study of regal composure, complete with an enigmatic

smile- is on loan from the National Museum in Phnom Penh. A little about this remarkable king Building activity reached a feverish rate during the reign of this king who also built palaces, roads and hospitals. As his untiring creativity diversified, Jayavarman's sense of his own preeminence grew. Before long, he considered himself to be a living Buddha- which explains why gigantic stone faces of him were carved to gaze down on onlookers from all towers of the city's gateways. To make the exhibition a complete show of Khmer masterpieces there's the wooden carved Orant in praying posture. This statue is, indeed, a rare piece-having survived centuries of turmoil and vandalism.

We will never be able to fathom the sheer immensity of Khmer architecture between the 9th and the 13th century. So, seven hundreds later, we will have to be satisfied with only a keyhole view of this extraordinary creativity For that's what the exhibition in Paris offers us. 

The exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris is on until May 26. From June 30 to September 28, the exhibition will be at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and from October 28 to December 21, it will be at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum. From January 15 to March 22, 1998 it will be in Osaka at the Municipal Museum.