Angkor Wat is an ancient temple that is located a few miles from the town of Siem Reap in Cambodia, Southeast Asia.
Angkor Wat means “City Temple.” It was built in the early 1100s for Suryavarman II, the king of the Khmer Empire, as part of his capital city. The Khmers ruled the area from about AD 800 to 1225. The temple was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu and took 37 years to build. The huge structure is surrounded by a thick outer wall that is 15 feet high and over 2 miles long. The complex is protected by a moat, which is 600 feet wide.
Angkor Wat is considered to be the most magnificent temple ever built by the Khmers. Made of sandstone, the pyramid-shaped complex has several terraces and small buildings. Five towers rise above these. The walls are covered with beautiful and intricate carvings that depict Hindu mythology, especially stories about the god Vishnu.
The Thai Empire conquered the Khmers in the 1400s and the city of Angkor was abandoned. In about 1500, Buddhist monks began to use the temple (and still do today). Few other people knew about it, but there were rumors of an abandoned city. These rumors were proved true when French missionaries came across Angkor Wat in 1860. A French botanist named Henri Mahout started restoration work on the temple. The other buildings in the city had been taken over by thick jungle.
Today, Angkor Wat is a symbol of Cambodia. Its image is on the Cambodian flag and in 1992 the United Nations declared it a World Heritage Site. It is now Cambodia’s most popular tourist destination. Damage from visitors has been kept to a minimum and foreign government-sponsored archeologists continue to restore it.
