Angkor Wat. Temple complex in Cambodia located over 190 miles to the north-west of Phnom Penh and less than 1 mile south of the royal town of Angkor Thom. Founded by Jayavarman VII, the Temple was dedicated to the Hindu god Viṣṇu by king Suryavarman II, who reigned between 1131 and 1150 ce. The name Angkor comes from the Sanskrit word nagara, meaning ‘town’. The temple was constructed over a period of 30 years, and illustrates some of the most beautiful examples of Khmer and Hindu art. The temple is a huge pyramid structure covering an area of about 200 acres and surrounded by a vast moat. Along the causeway leading to the enormous entrance gate are balustrades shaped as giant serpents, which are believed to represent emblems of cosmic fertility. Angkor Wat consists of a towering complex of terraces and small buildings that are arranged in a series of three diminishing storeys and surmounted by five towers believed to represent the five peaks of Mt. Meru, the home of the gods and centre of the Hindu universe. The roofed and unroofed structures are covered with bands of finely carved stone sculptures. The walls are covered with carved reliefs that illustrate Hindu mythology, principally scenes relating to the god Viṣṇu. The mass of bas-relief carving is of the highest quality and constitutes the longest continuous bas-relief in the world. At the start of the 13th century, the Angkor and the Khmer empire started to decline and Angkor Wat was turned into a Buddhist temple. Eventually the area, covered in thick jungles, became isolated from the rest of the country. Angkor Wat was then rediscovered by Western scholars in 1860 and a restoration programme begun. Very little damage has been done to the complex as a result of the bloody civil war that terrorized Cambodia in the second half of the 20th century, though many Buddhist monks who lived in the Angkor temples were massacred. Today, archaeologists from all over the world are actively involved in the restoration process of the temples, although theft of artefacts from the extensive site for sale on the black market is a continuing problem.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat, in present-day Cambodia, formed part of the capital of the Khmer Empire from 802 until 1295, and is probably the largest religious monument ever constructed. Built over a 30-year period with sandstone and laterite (a dense, porous, iron-bearing soil that can be quarried like stone), the rectangular structure (2,800 by 3,800 feet) faces west, in Hindu belief the direction taken by the dead when going to their next life.

At the center of the complex stands a temple with five lotus-shaped towers, a larger central tower, and four smaller surrounding towers. They represent the five peaks of Mount Meru, the mountain where a pantheon of Hindu gods reside and from which, according to Hindu belief, all creation comes. Three square terraces surrounds the central tower. The entire complex is surrounded by a moat more than three miles long and rimmed by a causeway that leads to four gateways into the temple complex. Decorating the causeway are carvings that depict divine serpents, known as nagas.

Angkor Wat was taken by the Cham army from northern Cambodia in 1177, after which the complex began to fall into ruin. It was reclaimed, but not inhabited, in 1181. Pillaged by Thai invaders in the fifteenth century, the ruins were somewhat refurbished and expanded by later rulers of Cambodia. Angkor Wat was intermittently inhabited by Buddhist monks, and the former Hindu temple subsequently became a destination for Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world.

Delving Deeper

Ingpen, Robert, and Philip Wilkinson. Encyclopedia of Mysterious Places. New York: Barnes & Noble,

1999.