34 MARCH/APRIL 2022
A
ppearing like a fever dream amid
a thick, humid jungle is Angkor
Wat—a soaring, sumptuous city
of stone with elegant spires and
elevated towers, covered galleries
and airy courtyards, ornate walkways and intri-
cate bas-relief carvings. Situated on the shores
of Tonle Sap, a lake in northwest Cambodia,
this temple complex is a nearly 900-year-old
ruin from the ancient Khmer Empire. Among
the hundreds of surviving temples in the re-
gion, the vast complex is easily Cambodia’s
most famous sacred site—it appears on the
nation’s current flag—and is revered for good
reason. Comprising over a thousand buildings
and covering some 400 acres, it is the world’s
largest religious structure—and one of human-
ity’s cultural wonders.
Construction of Angkor Wat began in the
first half of the 12th century by the Khmer king
Suryavarman II (reigned a.d. 1113-circa 1150).
It was probably intended to serve as his vast
funerary temple where his remains would rest
for eternity. Heavily influenced by Hinduism,
the site, whose name means “city of temples”
in Khmer, was originally called Vrah Visnuloka
(“sacred dwelling of Vishnu”) and dedicated to
three Hindu deities: the namesake Vishnu, Shi-
va, and Brahma. Hindu deities are recognizable
among the complex’s many bas-relief carvings.
The structure’s most prominent architectural
feature is its central quincunx—five conically
shaped towers (four in the corners, one in the
middle) built on graduated tiers. Rows of lotuses
taper to a point near the top, symbolizing the
peaks of Mount Meru, the dwelling place of the
gods and center of the universe. Indeed, Angkor
Wat was conceived as an earthly model of the
cosmos—a miniature replica of the universe in
stone, with its central tower rising nearly 200
feet in the air. The outer wall corresponds to
the mountains at the edge of the world; the sur-
rounding three-mile-long moat symbolizes the
oceans beyond them.
One accesses the site by crossing a 617-foot
bridge and then passing through three galleries
on the way to the temple itself. The inner walls
are covered with bas-relief sculptures repre-
senting Hindu gods and ancient Khmer scenes,
as well as episodes from two Sanskrit epics: the
Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
CAPITALS
AND
KINGS
ca 1116
Khmer king Suryavarman II
begins construction of the
Angkor Wat (“city of temples”)
complex alongside Angkor, a
preexisting Khmer city.
1177
The neighboring Cham (in
present-day Vietnam) invade
and plunder Angkor Wat,
causing great instability
throughout the empire.
1 ANGKOR WAT
2 PHNOM BAKHENG TEMPLE
3 WEST BARAY (RESERVOIR)
4 ANGKOR THOM TEMPLE COMPLEX
5 BAYON TEMPLE
6 BAPHUON TEMPLE
7 PHIMEANAKAS TEMPLE COMPLEX
8 TERRACE OF THE ELEPHANTS
9 TERRACE OF THE LEPER KING
VICTORY GATE
PREAH KHAN TEMPLE
10
11
22
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