Angkor temples
Cambodia’s temples at the former Khmer capital are a living, breathing wonder of the world.
For centuries, a masterpiece of power and prestige lay hidden within the jungle overgrowth of Siem Reap. Stretching over 400 square kilometres (154 square miles), the Angkor complex of temples remains a testament to the ingenuity, philosophy and wealth of the fallen Khmer Empire.
One of the largest active archaeological sites in the world, the laterite temples of Angkor form an elaborate complex, founded by early-12thcentury king Suryavarman II, in dedication to Hindu deity Vishnu. Though the empire later converted to Buddhism, the temples continue to play a ritualistic role in the lives of local Khmer people, its chambers and squares filled with orange-robed monks and nuns in white.
Traditional Khmer temples were built in two styles: the ‘temple mountain’ and the ‘galleriedtemple’. The most renowned, Angkor Wat, featured both. The largest religious monument in the world, it took hundreds of thousands of workers (including labourers, masons, sculptors and servants, plus 6,000 elephants) more than three decades to build.
Grey and yellowish-brown sandstone bricks were most likely hauled over canals from quarries 35 kilometres (22 miles) away. These were encased around the laterite stone galleries, and carved with intricate bas-reliefs, depicting Hindu narratives most famously the Churning of the Ocean of Milk creation story.
Surrounded by a 4.8-kilometre (three-mile) moat, with a long causeway, the temple was designed to mirror the five peaks of the sacred Mount Meru, with the tallest tower rising 213 metres (699 feet) high. Beneath, the temple houses a series of galleries, chambers, porches and courtyards, spread across different levels.
The complex is a microcosm of the universe, with Mount Meru at the centre the walls the bounds of Earth and the moat, outer space. This theme binds Angkor Wat to its neighbouring temples, through solar alignments. The nearby complex of Angkor Thom was built as a ‘Great City’, the last Khmer capital, by the great conqueror, King Jayavarman VII. Housing royals, priests, officials and dancers, at its heart was the temple of Bayon an Indiana Jones-style labyrinthine monument, covered in 2,000 faces likened to the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, and the king himself a Mahayana Buddhist.
The city is also home to a number of other monuments, from the Terrace of the Leper King and Terrace of the Elephants, to the overgrown Tep Pranam and Preah Palilay temples.
East of Angkor Thom, the temple of Ta Prohm (known casually known as ‘Tomb Raider Temple’) forms a unique bond with its natural surroundings. In places it is consumed by fig, banyan and kapok trees, growing atop walls, with thick roots spilling down into the earth below. Ta Prohm was built as a monastery and university, and like Jayarvarman’s other monuments its Buddhist iconography has been converted back to Hindu symbolism.
Amidst the region’s many other surviving ruins, the temple mountain of Phnom Bakheng, originally built in the late 9th century, is uniquely situated atop a hill. The stepped pyramid, adorned with lions, mirrors Mount Meru its summit making for a stunning place to watch the sunset over the Khmer city of wonders.