March 08, 2014

Ancient Angkor

In 1863, a French naturalist first wrote about the ancient ruins of  Angkor Wat and how he was blown away by the architecture and elaborate carvings of the temples. Today, Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site,  is one of the largest archaeological sites in operation in the world. 

Between the 8^th and 13^th centuries, a succession of Hindu and Buddhist Khmer Kings created magnificent temples in stone.  These temples were designed for the Khmer’s immortal gods and have survived to present day because they were built of brick and stone. The royal dwellings and ordinary houses did not survive though because they were built mostly of wood.

The Angkor temple complex was built as a palace for the god Vishnu who was enshrined in the largest, central tower. It was believed Vishnu would show favor to the King and his family so there was a need to build the finest temple possible.  It seemed that almost every square inch of the temples had very detailed carvings.

Angkor Wat, the most impressive temple, that is one square km in area with 5m high walls. The temple grounds are surrounded by a moat almost 200m wide. Because of the moat, the temple was not overgrown by the jungle as the other temples were and was less damaged. The outer wall encloses a space of 203 acres where the royal dwellings and villager homes were located.

Because they had no protective moat around them, most temples have been overgrown by the jungle like Ta Prohm , where the movie “Tomb Raider” starring Angelina Jolie was filmed in 2001.

I found the temples fun to explore while we were visiting them because they are all open and easily accessible.