Angkor Wat, Buddhist temple complex in Siem Reap, Cambodia
Angkor Wat is a Buddhist temple in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, built from five stone towers that rise from three rectangular galleries. A moat more than three miles (5 kilometers) long surrounds the compound completely, reflecting the towers at dawn.
King Suryavarman II ordered the temple built around 1122 for the Hindu god Vishnu, and work finished around 1150 during the height of the Khmer Empire. Later centuries saw it transform into a Buddhist monastery without removing the old stone carvings.
The name Angkor Wat means "City of Temples" in Khmer, from angkor (city) and wat (temple grounds). The temple was originally called Vrah Viṣṇuloka, "the sacred dwelling of Vishnu". A 1632 inscription by the Japanese pilgrim Morimoto Ukondayū Kazufusa remains on a wall, though it was painted over under the Khmer Rouge.
Visitors should arrive early in the morning to avoid crowds and catch the best light for photography, especially during the rainy season from May to October. Paths between the galleries can be uneven, so comfortable shoes are important.
The temple faces west instead of east, which is unusual and may point to its original role as a funerary monument. Scholars believe this orientation relates to ideas about death in Hindu cosmology.
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