Angkor Wat is situated in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and it is the largest religious building in the world and perhaps the most popular archaeological attraction of Southeast Asia.
Angkor Wat was constructed in the early years of the twelfth century by King Suryavarman II as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu, which is one of the principal gods in Hinduism. Through time, as the religion of the Khmer Empire shifted over the centuries, this temple area turned Buddhist, and today it symbolizes Cambodia’s worship and heritage.
Angkor Wat has a rich structure as it represents the monument of the Khmer Empire, which dominated most parts of Southeast Asia in the 9th–15th centuries. The structure, with over 400 acres, comprises a central and huge tower surrounded by four smaller towers, which are symbolized to represent the four detections, or the tops of Meru Mountain, which Hindus hold sacred.
The outer walls of the building are covered with detailed bas-relief images that tell the stories from both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. I would like to mention one of those most famous, The Churning Of The Ocean Of Milk, a story based on Hindu mythology that depicts the constant battle of the good against evil.
The buildings of the temple were left in ruins, and most of the structures survived only inasmuch as they were reclaimed by the forest after the decline of the Khmer Empire in the 15th century; the site was eventually discovered by French explorers only in the 19th century. Presently, Angkor Wat is an important source that provides information regarding the cultural and religious practices of Southeast Asia, which attracts millions of tourists on a yearly basis.
It is a place that can be considered historical, architectural, and religious, which depicts the path to a once mighty empire.
Mark