Angkor Wat អង្គរវត្ត - UNESCO World Heritage Site - Manmade Wonder Of The World - Cambodia 2024

Angkor Wat អង្គរវត្ត

"City/Capital of Temples" is a temple complex in Cambodia and is the largest religious monument in the world, 402 acres.

Originally constructed as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire by King Suryavarman II, it was gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century; as such, it is also described as a "Hindu-Buddhist" temple.

Representing the abode of Hinduism's ancient gods, the spectacular temple of Angkor Wat is quite literally heaven on earth and the jewel in the Khmer archaeological crown. It's the largest of all Angkor's temples and one of the best preserved. Surrounded by a huge rectangular reservoir and an outer wall measuring over 3km in length, the temple consists of three tiered galleries and five towers shaped like lotus buds.

Such is the national pride in the site that the outline of the temple features on Cambodia's national flag. Little can prepare you for the sheer scale, splendor and symmetry of Angkor Wat, a perfect blend of artistic genius and spiritual devotion. Although somewhat neglected after the 16th century, Angkor Wat is unique in that it was never completely abandoned and the moat safeguarded the temple against the encroaching jungle.

Angkor Wat Is one of the ten wonders of the man made world and should be on the list of everyone.

The highpoint of Angkorian architecture and the culmination of centuries of innovation in style, technique and design. Angkor Wat needs no introduction but even at smaller sites such as Prasat Banteay Samre, Prasat Phanom Rung, and Prasat Beng Mealea, all the characteristic elements are on display including; concentric enclosures, raised causeways, cruciform terraces, elaborate gopuras, enclosing galleries, 'libraries', the distinctive 'pineapple' sandstone towers, tiered pediments and lintels featuring finely carved narrative and heraldic designs plus, of course, the iconic devata images.

Aside from the sheer size of Angkor Wat, there are few architectural innovations but what it does see is the successful coming together on a huge scale of centuries of trial, error and experimentation.

In decorative terms, the elaborate, layered pediments, proliferation of iconic devata figures and covering of wall and column spaces with extensive tapestry reliefs was groundbreaking while the extraordinary gallery reliefs of Angkor Wat itself are incomparable in Khmer architecture. (The relief-lined outer galleries total nearly 1km and nearly 2,000 devata figures have been counted.)

Construction methods also seem to have reached a peak during this era with the huge site avoiding the catastrophic collapse of Baphuon and the hasty, poor building work of many subsequent Jayavarman VII sites. A surprising fact considering the sheer number of sites dating to this period although it's clear that many of these sites would have been initiated and completed before and after the reign of Suryavarman II himself.

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