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Angkor Wat អង攀រវត⤀

Location in Cambodia

Name

Other names Nokor Wat (Khmer: នគរវត⤀)

Proper name Prasat Angkor Wat

Geography

Coordinates 13°24′45″N 103°52′0″E

Country Cambodia

Locale Angkor, Siem Reap Province,Cambodia

Architecture

Architecturalstyles

Khmer

History and governance

Date built 12th century

Creator started by Suryavarman IIcompleted by Jayavarman VII

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Officialname

Angkor

Type Cultural

Criteria i, ii, iii, iv

Designated 1992 (16th session)

Angkor WatFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Angkor Wat (Khmer: អង攀រវត⤀ or "Capital Temple") is a temple complex inCambodia and the largest religious monument in the world, with the sitemeasuring 162.6 hectares (1,626,000 m2; 402 acres).[1] It was originallyconstructed as a Hindu temple for the Khmer Empire, gradually transforming intoa Buddhist temple toward the end of the 12th century.[2] It was built by the KhmerKing Suryavarman II[3] in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura (Khmer:យេ琀ធរបរៈ, present­day Angkor), the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his statetemple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from the Shaiva tradition of previouskings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best­preserved templeat the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious center sinceits foundation. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmerarchitecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia,[4] appearing on its nationalflag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.

Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple­mountain and the later galleried temple. It is designed to represent Mount Meru,home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6kilometres (2.2 mi) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above thenext. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike mostAngkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as tothe significance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony ofthe architecture, its extensive bas­reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorningits walls.

The modern name, Angkor Wat, means "Temple City" or "City of Temples" inKhmer; Angkor, meaning "city" or "capital city", is a vernacular form of the wordnokor (នគរ), which comes from the Sanskrit word nagara (Devanāgarī: नगर).[5]Wat is the Khmer word for "temple grounds", also derived from Sanskrit vāṭa(Devanāgarī: वाट), meaning "enclosure".[6]

Contents

1 History2 Architecture

2.1 Site and plan2.2 Style2.3 Features

2.3.1 Outer enclosure2.3.2 Central structure2.3.3 Decoration

2.4 Construction techniques3 Angkor Wat today

3.1 Restoration and conservation3.2 Tourism

4 Gallery5 References6 Bibliography7 External links

History

Angkor Wat អង攀រវត⤀

Coordinates: 13°24′45″N 103°52′0″E

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Reference no. 668 (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/668)

Region Asia and the Pacific

King Suryavarman II, the builder ofAngkor Wat

Angkor Wat lies 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi)north of the modern town of Siem Reap,and a short distance south and slightly eastof the previous capital, which was centredat Baphuon. In an area of Cambodia wherethere is an important group of ancient structures, it is the southernmost of Angkor's mainsites.

According to legend, the construction of Angkor Wat was ordered by Indra to act as a palacefor his son Precha Ket Mealea.[7] According to the 13th century Chinese traveler DaguanZhou, it was believed by some that the temple was constructed in a single night by a divinearchitect.[8]

The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman II(ruled 1113 – c. 1150). Dedicated to Vishnu, it was built as the king's state temple and capital city. As neither the foundation stelanor any contemporary inscriptions referring to the temple have been found, its original name is unknown, but it may have beenknown as "Varah Vishnu­lok" after the presiding deity. Work seems to have ended shortly after the king's death, leaving some of thebas­relief decoration unfinished.[9] In 1177, approximately 27 years after the death of Suryavarman II, Angkor was sacked by theChams, the traditional enemies of the Khmer.[10] Thereafter the empire was restored by a new king, Jayavarman VII, whoestablished a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) a few kilometers to the north.

Toward the end of the 12th century, Angkor Wat gradually transformed from a Hindu center of worship to Buddhism, whichcontinues to the present day.[2] Angkor Wat is unusual among the Angkor temples in that although it was somewhat neglected afterthe 16th century it was never completely abandoned, its preservation being due in part to the fact that its moat also provided someprotection from encroachment by the jungle.[11]

One of the first Western visitors to the temple was António da Madalena, a Portuguese monk who visited in 1586 and said that it "isof such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in theworld. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of."[12]

By the 17th century, Angkor Wat was not completely abandoned and functioned as a Buddhist temple. Fourteen inscriptions datedfrom the 17th century discovered in Angkor area, testify to Japanese Buddhist pilgrims that might had established small settlementsalongside Khmer locals.[13] At that time, the temple was thought by the Japanese visitors as the famed Jetavana garden of theBuddha, which originally located in the kingdom of Magadha, India.[14] The best­known inscription tells of Ukondafu Kazufusa,who celebrated the Khmer New Year at Angkor Wat in 1632.[15]

In the mid­19th century, the temple was visited by the French naturalist and explorer, Henri Mouhot, who popularised the site in theWest through the publication of travel notes, in which he wrote:

"One of these temples—a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo—might take anhonorable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, andpresents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged."[16]

Mouhot, like other early Western visitors, found it difficult to believe that the Khmers could have built the temple, and mistakenlydated it to around the same era as Rome. The true history of Angkor Wat was pieced together only from stylistic and epigraphicevidence accumulated during the subsequent clearing and restoration work carried out across the whole Angkor site. There were noordinary dwellings or houses or other signs of settlement including cooking utensils, weapons, or items of clothing usually found atancient sites. Instead there is the evidence of the monuments themselves.[17]

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Facade of Angkor Wat, a drawingby Henri Mouhot, c. 1860

1870 photograph by Émile Gsell French postcard about AngkorWat in 1911

Angkor Wat required considerable restoration in the 20th century, mainly the removal of accumulated earth and vegetation.[18] Workwas interrupted by the civil war and Khmer Rouge control of the country during the 1970s and 1980s, but relatively little damagewas done during this period. Camping Khmer Rouge forces used whatever wood remained in the building structures for firewood, apavilion was ruined by a stray American shell, and a shoot­out between Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese forces put a few bullet holesin a bas relief. Far more damage was done after the wars, by art thieving working out of Thailand, which, in the late 1980s and early1990s, claimed almost every head that could be lopped off the structures, including reconstructions.[19]

The temple is a powerful symbol of Cambodia, and is a source of great national pride that has factored into Cambodia's diplomaticrelations with France, the United States and its neighbor Thailand. A depiction of Angkor Wat has been a part of Cambodiannational flags since the introduction of the first version circa 1863.[20] From a larger historical and even transcultural perspective,however, the temple of Angkor Wat did not become a symbol of national pride sui generis but had been inscribed into a largerpolitico­cultural process of French­colonial heritage production in which the original temple site was presented in French colonialand universal exhibitions in Paris and Marseille between 1889 and 1937.[21] Angkor Wat's aesthetics were also on display in theplaster cast museum of Louis Delaporte called musée Indo­chinois which existed in the Parisian Trocadero Palace from c.1880 to themid­1920s.[22]

The splendid artistic legacy of Angkor Wat and other Khmer monuments in the Angkor region led directly to France adoptingCambodia as a protectorate on 11 August 1863 and invading Siam to take control of the ruins. This quickly led to Cambodiareclaiming lands in the northwestern corner of the country that had been under Siamese (Thai) control since 1351 AD (ManichJumsai 2001), or by some accounts, 1431 AD.[23] Cambodia gained independence from France on 9 November 1953 and hascontrolled Angkor Wat since that time. It is safe to say that from the colonial period onwards until the site's nomination as UNESCOWorld Heritage in 1992, this specific temple of Angkor Wat was instrumental in the formation of the modern and graduallyglobalized concept of built cultural heritage.[24]

In December 2015, it was announced that a research team from University of Sydney had found a previously unseen ensemble ofburied towers built and demolished during the construction of Angkor Wat, as well as massive structure of unknown purpose on itssouth side and wooden fortifications.[25] The findings also include evidence of low­density residential occupation in the region, witha road grid, ponds and mounds.[25] These indicate that the temple precinct, bounded by moat and wall, may not have been usedexclusively by the priestly elite, as was previously thought.[25] The team used LiDAR, ground­penetrating radar and targetedexcavation to map Angkor Wat.[25]

Architecture

Site and plan

Angkor Wat, located at , is a unique combination of the temple mountain (the standard design for theempire's state temples) and the later plan of concentric galleries. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the home of thegods: the central quincunx of towers symbolises the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat symbolise the surroundingmountain ranges and ocean.[26] Access to the upper areas of the temple was progressively more exclusive, with the laity beingadmitted only to the lowest level.[27]

Unlike most Khmer temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west rather than the east. This has led many (including Maurice Glaizeand George Coedès) to conclude that Suryavarman intended it to serve as his funerary temple.[28][29] Further evidence for this viewis provided by the bas­reliefs, which proceed in a counter­clockwise direction—prasavya in Hindu terminology—as this is the

13°24′45″N 103°52′0″E

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Satellite view and location of Angkor Wat in relation toother Angkor archaeological sites such as Angkor Thom

Plan of Angkor Wat

General plan of Angkor Wat withcentral structure in the middle

Detailed plan of the central structure

Angkor Wat as viewed from the rear

Aerial view of Angkor Wat

reverse of the normal order. Rituals take place in reverse order duringBrahminic funeral services.[18] The archaeologist Charles Higham alsodescribes a container which may have been a funerary jar which wasrecovered from the central tower.[30] It has been nominated by some as thegreatest expenditure of energy on the disposal of a corpse.[31] Freeman andJacques, however, note that several other temples of Angkor depart from thetypical eastern orientation, and suggest that Angkor Wat's alignment wasdue to its dedication to Vishnu, who was associated with the west.[26]

A further interpretation of Angkor Wat has been proposed by EleanorMannikka. Drawing on the temple's alignment and dimensions, and on thecontent and arrangement of the bas­reliefs, she argues that the structurerepresents a claimed new era of peace under King Suryavarman II: "as themeasurements of solar and lunar time cycles were built into the sacredspace of Angkor Wat, this divine mandate to rule was anchored to consecrated chambers andcorridors meant to perpetuate the king's power and to honor and placate the deities manifestin the heavens above."[32][33] Mannikka's suggestions have been received with a mixture ofinterest and scepticism in academic circles.[30] She distances herself from the speculations ofothers, such as Graham Hancock, that Angkor Wat is part of a representation of theconstellation Draco.[34]

Style

Angkor Wat is the prime example of theclassical style of Khmer architecture—theAngkor Wat style—to which it has given itsname. By the 12th century Khmer architectshad become skilled and confident in the use ofsandstone (rather than brick or laterite) as themain building material. Most of the visibleareas are of sandstone blocks, while lateritewas used for the outer wall and for hiddenstructural parts. The binding agent used to jointhe blocks is yet to be identified, althoughnatural resins or slaked lime has beensuggested.[35]

The temple has drawn praise above all for the harmony of its design. According to MauriceGlaize, a mid­20th­century conservator of Angkor, the temple "attains a classic perfection by the restrained monumentality of itsfinely balanced elements and the precise arrangement of its proportions. It is a work of power, unity and style."[36]

Architecturally, the elements characteristic of the style include: the ogival, redented towersshaped like lotus buds; half­galleries to broaden passageways; axial galleries connectingenclosures; and the cruciform terraces which appear along the main axis of the temple.Typical decorative elements are devatas (or apsaras), bas­reliefs, and on pediments extensivegarlands and narrative scenes. The statuary of Angkor Wat is considered conservative, beingmore static and less graceful than earlier work.[37] Other elements of the design have beendestroyed by looting and the passage of time, including gilded stucco on the towers, gildingon some figures on the bas­reliefs, and wooden ceiling panels and doors.[38]

Features

Outer enclosure

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View of the three ruined towers on the westof the outer enclosure from across the moat

Aerial view of the central structure; in frontof the central structure lies the cruciformterrace.

A tower of Angkor Wat

The outer wall, 1,024 m (3,360 ft) by 802 m (2,631 ft) and 4.5 m (15 ft) high, issurrounded by a 30 m (98 ft) apron of open ground and a moat 190 m (620 ft) wide.Access to the temple is by an earth bank to the east and a sandstone causeway to thewest; the latter, the main entrance, is a later addition, possibly replacing a woodenbridge.[39] There are gopuras at each of the cardinal points; the western is by far thelargest and has three ruined towers. Glaize notes that this gopura both hides and echoesthe form of the temple proper.[40] Under the southern tower is a statue of Vishnu,known as Ta Reach, which may originally have occupied the temple's centralshrine.[39] Galleries run between the towers and as far as two further entrances oneither side of the gopura often referred to as "elephant gates", as they are large enoughto admit those animals. These galleries have square pillars on the outer (west) side anda closed wall on the inner (east) side. The ceiling between the pillars is decorated withlotus rosettes; the west face of the wall with dancing figures; and the east face of the

wall with balustered windows, dancing male figures on prancing animals, and devatas, including (south of the entrance) the only onein the temple to be showing her teeth.

The outer wall encloses a space of 820,000 square metres (203 acres), which besides the temple proper was originally occupied bythe city and, to the north of the temple, the royal palace. Like all secular buildings of Angkor, these were built of perishablematerials rather than of stone, so nothing remains of them except the outlines of some of the streets.[41] Most of the area is nowcovered by forest. A 350 m (1,150 ft) causeway connects the western gopura to the temple proper, with naga balustrades and six setsof steps leading down to the city on either side. Each side also features a library with entrances at each cardinal point, in front of thethird set of stairs from the entrance, and a pond between the library and the temple itself. The ponds are later additions to the design,as is the cruciform terrace guarded by lions connecting the causeway to the central structure.[41]

Central structure

The temple stands on a terrace raised higher than the city. It is made of threerectangular galleries rising to a central tower, each level higher than the last. Mannikkainterprets these galleries as being dedicated to the king, Brahma, the moon, andVishnu.[9] Each gallery has a gopura at each of the points, and the two inner gallerieseach have towers at their corners, forming a quincunx with the central tower. Becausethe temple faces west, the features are all set back towards the east, leaving more spaceto be filled in each enclosure and gallery on the west side; for the same reason thewest­facing steps are shallower than those on the other sides.

The outer gallery measures 187 m (614 ft) by215 m (705 ft), with pavilions rather than towersat the corners. The gallery is open to the outside ofthe temple, with columned half­galleries extendingand buttressing the structure. Connecting the outergallery to the second enclosure on the west side is

a cruciform cloister called Preah Poan (the "Hall of a Thousand Gods"). Buddha images wereleft in the cloister by pilgrims over the centuries, although most have now been removed. Thisarea has many inscriptions relating the good deeds of pilgrims, most written in Khmer but othersin Burmese and Japanese. The four small courtyards marked out by the cloister may originallyhave been filled with water.[42] North and south of the cloister are libraries.

Beyond, the second and inner galleries are connected to each other and to two flanking librariesby another cruciform terrace, again a later addition. From the second level upwards, devatasabound on the walls, singly or in groups of up to four. The second­level enclosure is 100 m(330 ft) by 115 m (377 ft), and may originally have been flooded to represent the ocean aroundMount Meru.[43] Three sets of steps on each side lead up to the corner towers and gopuras of theinner gallery. The very steep stairways represent the difficulty of ascending to the kingdom of the gods.[44] This inner gallery, calledthe Bakan, is a 60 m (200 ft) square with axial galleries connecting each gopura with the central shrine, and subsidiary shrineslocated below the corner towers. The roofings of the galleries are decorated with the motif of the body of a snake ending in theheads of lions or garudas. Carved lintels and pediments decorate the entrances to the galleries and to the shrines. The tower abovethe central shrine rises 43 m (141 ft) to a height of 65 m (213 ft) above the ground; unlike those of previous temple mountains, the

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The bas­relief of the Churning of theSea of Milk shows Vishnu in thecentre, his turtle Avatar Kurmabelow, asuras and devas to left andright, and apsaras and Indra above.

Devatas are characteristic of the AngkorWat style.

Decoration on the corner

central tower is raised above the surrounding four.[45] The shrine itself, originally occupied by a statue of Vishnu and open on eachside, was walled in when the temple was converted to Theravada Buddhism, the new walls featuring standing Buddhas. In 1934, theconservator George Trouvé excavated the pit beneath the central shrine: filled with sand and water it had already been robbed of itstreasure, but he did find a sacred foundation deposit of gold leaf two metres above ground level.[46]

Decoration

Integrated with the architecture of the building, and one of the causes for its fame is AngkorWat's extensive decoration, which predominantly takes the form of bas­relief friezes. Theinner walls of the outer gallery bear a series of large­scale scenes mainly depicting episodesfrom the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Higham has called these, "thegreatest known linear arrangement of stone carving".[47] From the north­west corner anti­clockwise, the western gallery shows the Battle of Lanka (from the Ramayana, in whichRama defeats Ravana) and the Battle of Kurukshetra (from the Mahabharata, showing themutual annihilation of the Kaurava and Pandava clans). On the southern gallery follow theonly historical scene, a procession of Suryavarman II, then the 32 hells and 37 heavens ofHinduism.

On the eastern gallery is one of the mostcelebrated scenes, the Churning of the Sea ofMilk, showing 92[48] asuras and 88 devas usingthe serpent Vasuki to churn the sea underVishnu's direction (Mannikka counts only 91asuras, and explains the asymmetrical numbersas representing the number of days from thewinter solstice to the spring equinox, and fromthe equinox to the summer solstice).[49] It is

followed by Vishnu defeating asuras (a 16th­century addition). The northern galleryshows Krishna's victory over Bana (where according to Glaize, "The workmanship is atits worst"),[50] and a battle between the Hindu gods and asuras. The north­west andsouth­west corner pavilions both feature much smaller­scale scenes, some unidentifiedbut most from the Ramayana or the life of Krishna.

Angkor Wat is decorated with depictions of apsaras and devata; there are more than 1,796depictions of devata in the present research inventory.[51] Angkor Wat architects employed smallapsara images (30 cm (12 in)–40 cm (16 in)) as decorative motifs on pillars and walls. Theyincorporated larger devata images (all full­body portraits measuring approximately 95 cm(37 in)–110 cm (43 in)) more prominently at every level of the temple from the entry pavilion tothe tops of the high towers. In 1927, Sappho Marchal published a study cataloging theremarkable diversity of their hair, headdresses, garments, stance, jewelry and decorativeflowers, which Marchal concluded were based on actual practices of the Angkor period.[52]

Construction techniques

The stones, as smooth as polished marble, were laid without mortar with very tight joints thatare sometimes hard to find. The blocks were held together by mortise and tenon joints in somecases, while in others they used dovetails and gravity. The blocks were presumably put in placeby a combination of elephants, coir ropes, pulleys and bamboo scaffolding. Henri Mouhot notedthat most of the blocks had holes 2.5 cm (0.98 in) in diameter and 3 cm (1.2 in) deep, with moreholes on the larger blocks. Some scholars have suggested that these were used to join themtogether with iron rods, but others claim they were used to hold temporary pegs to help manoeuvre them into place.

The monument was made out of millions of tonnes of sandstone and it has a similar volume as well as mass than the Pyramid ofMenkaure in Egypt. The Angkor Wat temple consumed about 6 million to 10 million blocks of sandstone with an average weight of1.5 tons each.[53] In fact, the entire city of Angkor used up far greater amounts of stone than all the Egyptian pyramids combined,and occupied an area significantly greater than modern­day Paris. Moreover, unlike the Egyptian pyramids which use limestonequarried barely 0.5 km (0.31 mi) away all the time, the entire city of Angkor was built with sandstone quarried 40 km (25 mi) (or

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World Monuments Fund video onconservation of Angkor Wat

Bullet holes left by a shoot­outbetween the Khmer Rouge andVietnamese forces at Angkor Wat.

more) away.[54] This sandstone had to be transported from Mount Kulen, a quarry approximately 25 miles (40 km) to the northeast.The route has been suggested to span 35 kilometres (22 mi) along a canal towards Tonlé Sap lake, another 35 kilometres (22 mi)crossing the lake, and finally 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) against the current along Siem Reap River, making a total journey of 90kilometres (56 mi). However, Etsuo Uchida and Ichita Shimoda of Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan have discovered in 2012 ashorter 35­kilometre (22 mi) canal connecting Mount Kulen and Angkor Wat using satellite imagery. The two believe that theKhmer used this route instead.[55]

Virtually all of its surfaces, columns, lintels and even roofs are carved. There are miles of reliefs illustrating scenes from Indianliterature including unicorns, griffins, winged dragons pulling chariots as well as warriors following an elephant­mounted leader andcelestial dancing girls with elaborate hair styles. The gallery wall alone is decorated with almost 1,000 square metres of bas reliefs.Holes on some of the Angkor walls indicate that they may have been decorated with bronze sheets. These were highly prized inancient times and were a prime target for robbers. While excavating Khajuraho, Alex Evans, a stonemason and sculptor, recreated astone sculpture under 4 feet (1.2 m), this took about 60 days to carve.[56] Roger Hopkins and Mark Lehner also conductedexperiments to quarry limestone which took 12 quarrymen 22 days to quarry about 400 tons of stone.[57] The labor force to quarry,transport, carve and install so much sandstone must have run into the thousands including many highly skilled artisans. The skillsrequired to carve these sculptures were developed hundreds of years earlier, as demonstrated by some artifacts that have been datedto the seventh century, before the Khmer came to power.[17][31]

Angkor Wat today

Restoration and conservation

As with most other ancient temples in Cambodia, Angkor Wat has faced extensive damageand deterioration by a combination of plant overgrowth, fungi, ground movements, wardamage and theft. The war damage to Angkor Wat's temples has been very limited,compared to the rest of Cambodia's temple ruins, and it has received the most attentiverestoration.[19]

The restoration of Angkor Wat in the modern erabegan with the establishment of the Conservationd'Angkor (Angkor Conservancy) by the Écolefrançaise d'Extrême­Orient (EFEO) in 1908; beforethat date, activities at the site were primarilyconcerned with exploration.[58][59] The Conservation d'Angkor was responsible for theresearch, conservation, and restoration activities carried out at Angkor until the early1970s,[60] and a major restoration of Angkor was undertaken in the 1960s.[61] However, workon Angkor was abandoned during the Khmer Rouge era and the Conservation d'Angkor wasdisbanded in 1975.[62] Between 1986 and 1992, the Archaeological Survey of India carriedout restoration work on the temple,[63] as France did not recognize the Cambodiangovernment at the time. Criticism has been raised about both the early French restorationattempts and particularly the later Indian work, with concerns over damage done to the stone

surface by the use of chemicals and cement.[19][64][65]

In 1992, following an appeal for help by Norodom Sihanouk, Angkor Wat was listed in UNESCO's World Heritage in Danger (laterremoved in 2004) and World Heritage Site together with an appeal by UNESCO to the international community to saveAngkor.[66][67] Zoning of the area was set up to protect the Angkor site in 1994,[68] APSARA was established in 1995 to protect andmanage the area, and a law to protect Cambodian heritage was passed in 1996.[69][70] A number of countries such as France, Japanand China are involved in various Angkor Wat conservation projects. The German Apsara Conservation Project (GACP) is workingto protect the devatas and other bas­reliefs which decorate the temple from damage. The organisation's survey found that around20% of the devatas were in very poor condition, mainly because of natural erosion and deterioration of the stone but in part also dueto earlier restoration efforts.[71] Other work involves the repair of collapsed sections of the structure, and prevention of furthercollapse: the west facade of the upper level, for example, has been buttressed by scaffolding since 2002,[72] while a Japanese teamcompleted restoration of the north library of the outer enclosure in 2005.[73] World Monuments Fund began conservation work onthe Churning of the Sea of Milk Gallery in 2008 after several years of studies on its condition. The project restored the traditional

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The restored head of a naga beside anunrestored lion at the start of thecauseway leading to the entrance ofAngkor Wat. The major restoration ofthe causeway was first initiated in the1960s by the French.

Khmer roofing system and removed cement used in earlier restoration attempts that had resulted in salts entering the structurebehind the bas­relief, discoloring and damaging the sculpted surfaces. The main phase of work ended in 2012, with the finalcomponent being the installation of finials on the roof of the gallery in 2013.

Microbial biofilms have been found degrading sandstone at Angkor Wat, Preah Khan, andthe Bayon and West Prasat in Angkor. The dehydration­ and radiation­resistant filamentouscyanobacteria can produce organic acids that degrade the stone. A dark filamentous funguswas found in internal and external Preah Khan samples, while the alga Trentepohlia wasfound only in samples taken from external, pink­stained stone at Preah Khan.[74] Replicaswere also made to replace some of the lost or damaged sculptures.[75]

Tourism

Since the 1990s, Angkor Wat has become a major tourist destination. In 1993, there wereonly 7,650 visitors to the site;[76] by 2004, government figures show that 561,000 foreignvisitors had arrived in Siem Reap province that year, approximately 50% of all foreigntourists in Cambodia.[77] The number reached over a million in 2007,[78] and over twomillion by 2012.[79] Most visited Angkor Wat, which received over two million foreigntourists in 2013.[80] The site has been managed by the private SOKIMEX group since 1990,which rented it from the Cambodian government. The influx of tourists has so far causedrelatively little damage, other than some graffiti; ropes and wooden steps have beenintroduced to protect the bas­reliefs and floors, respectively. Tourism has also provided someadditional funds for maintenance—as of 2000 approximately 28% of ticket revenues acrossthe whole Angkor site was spent on the temples—although most work is carried out byforeign government­sponsored teams rather than by the Cambodian authorities.[81]

Since Angkor Wat has seen significant growth in tourism throughout the years UNESCO and its International Co­ordinatingCommittee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC), in association with representatives from theRoyal Government and APSARA, organized seminars to discuss the concept of "cultural tourism".[82] Wanting to avoid commercialand mass tourism, the seminars emphasized the importance of providing high quality accommodation and services in order for theCambodian government to benefit economically, while also incorporating the richness of Cambodian culture.[82] In 2001, thisincentive resulted in the concept of the "Angkor Tourist City" which would be developed with regard to traditional Khmerarchitecture, contain leisure and tourist facilities, and provide luxurious hotels capable of accommodating large amounts oftourists.[82]

The prospect of developing such large tourist accommodations has encountered concerns from both APSARA and the ICC, claimingthat previous tourism developments in the area have neglected construction regulations and more of these projects have the potentialto damage landscape features.[82] Also, the large scale of these projects have begun to threaten the quality of the nearby town'swater, sewage, and electricity systems.[82] It has been noted that such high frequency of tourism and growing demand for qualityaccommodations in the area, such as the development of a large highway, has had a direct effect on the underground water table,subsequently straining the structural stability of the temples at Angkor Wat.[82] Locals of Siem Reap have also voiced concern thatthe charm and atmosphere of their town have been compromised in order to entertain tourism.[82] Since this local atmosphere is thekey component to projects like Angkor Tourist City, local officials continue to discuss how to successfully incorporate futuretourism without sacrificing local values and culture.[82]

At the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2012, it was agreed that Borobudur and Angkor Wat would become sister sites and the provincessister provinces.[83]

Gallery

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View from one of theoutside corners at dusk

One of thecorner

entries ofthe outsidestructure

Detail of one of thetowers

Corridor

Khmer lionguardians

Mirrors in one of the walls

Miniature model ofthe central structureof Angkor Wat

Aerial view of AngkorWat

References

1. "Largest religious structure". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 29 April 2016.2. Ashley M. Richter (8 September 2009). "Recycling Monuments: The Hinduism/Buddhism Switch at Angkor". CyArk. Retrieved 7 June2015.

3. Higham, C. (2014). Early Mainland Southeast Asia. River Books Co., Ltd. pp. 372, 378–379. ISBN 978­616­7339­44­3.4. "Government ::Cambodia". CIA World Factbook.5. Chuon Nath Khmer Dictionary (1966, Buddhist Institute, Phnom Penh)6. Cambodian­English Dictionary by Robert K. Headley, Kylin Chhor, Lam Kheng Lim, Lim Hak Kheang, and Chen Chun (1977, CatholicUniversity Press)

7. J. Hackin; Clayment Huart; Raymonde Linossier; Raymonde Linossier; H. de Wilman Grabowska; Charles­Henri Marchal; Henri Maspero;Serge Eliseev (1932). Asiatic Mythology:A Detailed Description and Explanation of the Mythologies of All the Great Nations of Asia.p. 194.

8. daguan Zhou (2007). A Record of Cambodia: The Land and Its People. Translated by Peter Harris. Silkworm Books.9. "Angkor Wat, 1113–1150". The Huntington Archive of Buddhist and Related Art. College of the Arts, The Ohio State University. Retrieved27 April 2008.

10. Coedès, George (1968). Walter F. Vella, ed. The Indianized States of Southeast Asia. trans.Susan Brown Cowing. University of HawaiiPress. p. 164. ISBN 978­0­8248­0368­1.

11. Glaize, The Monuments of the Angkor Group p. 59.12. Higham, The Civilization of Angkor pp. 1–2.13. Masako Fukawa; Stan Fukawa (6 Nov 2014). "Japanese Diaspora ­ Cambodia". Discover Nikkei. Retrieved 18 October 2015.14. Abdoul­Carime Nasir. "Au­dela du plan Japonais du XVII siècle d'Angkor Vat, (A XVII century Japanese map of Angkor Wat)" (PDF) (in

French). Retrieved 18 October 2015.15. "History of Cambodia, Post­Angkor Era (1431 ­ present day)". Cambodia Travel. Retrieved 18 October 2015.16. Quoted in Brief Presentation by Venerable Vodano Sophan Seng (http://www.cambodianview.com/documents/articles/Brief_Presentation.pdf)17. Time Life Lost Civilizations series: Southeast Asia: A Past Regained (1995). p.67–9918. Glaize p. 59.19. Russell Ciochon & Jamie James (14 October 1989). "The Battle of Angkor Wat". New Scientist. p. 52­57. Retrieved 22 November 2015.20. Flags of the World, Cambodian Flag History (http://flagspot.net/flags/kh_hstry.html)21. Falser, Michael (2011). Krishna and the Plaster Cast. Translating the Cambodian Temple of Angkor Wat in the French Colonial Period (htt

p://archiv.ub.uni­heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/transcultural/article/view/9083).22. Falser, Michael (2013). From Gaillon to Sanchi, from Vézelay to Angkor Wat. The Musée Indo­Chinois in Paris: A Transcultural

Perspective on Architectural Museums. (http://www.riha­journal.org/articles/2013/2013­apr­jun/falser­musee­indo­chinois).23. Cambodge: The Cultivation of a Nation, 1860–1945 by Penny Edwards. 2007. ISBN 978­0­8248­2923­024. Falser, Michael: Clearing the Path towards Civilization ­ 150 Years of "Saving Angkor". In: Michael Falser (ed.) Cultural Heritage as

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Civilizing Mission. From Decay to Recovery. Springer: Heidelberg, New York, pp. 279–346.25. "Recent research has transformed archaeologists' understanding of Angkor Wat and its surroundings". University of Sydney. 9 December

2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.26. Freeman and Jacques p. 48.27. Glaize p. 62.28. Coedès, George (1968). Walter F. Vella, ed. The Indianized States of Southeast Asia. trans.Susan Brown Cowing. University of Hawaii

Press. p. 162. ISBN 978­0­8248­0368­1.29. The diplomatic envoy Zhou Da Guan sent by Emperor Temür Khan to Angkor in 1295 reported that the head of state was buried in a tower

after his death, and he referred to Angkor Wat as a mausoleum30. Higham, The Civilization of Angkor p. 118.31. Scarre, Chris editor "The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World", p. 81–85 (1999) Thames & Hudson, London32. Mannikka, Eleanor. Angkor Wat, 1113–1150 (http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/seasia/angkor.html). (This page does not cite an author's

name.)33. Stencel, Robert, Fred Gifford, and Eleanor Moron. "Astronomy and Cosmology at Angkor Wat." Science 193 (1976): 281–287. (Mannikka,

née Moron)34. Transcript of Atlantis Reborn (http://www.grahamhancock.com/horizon/horizon_script_2.htm), broadcast BBC2 4 November 1999.35. German Apsara Conservation Project (http://www.gacp­angkor.de/) Building Techniques, p. 5.36. Glaize p. 25.37. APSARA authority, Angkor Vat Style (http://www.autoriteapsara.org/en/angkor/art/styles/angkorian/angkor_vat.html)38. Freeman and Jacques p. 29.39. Freeman and Jacques p. 49.40. Glaize p. 61.41. Freeman and Jacques p. 50.42. Glaize p. 63.43. Ray, Lonely Planet guide to Cambodia p. 195.44. Ray p. 199.45. Briggs p. 199.46. Glaize p. 65.47. Higham, Early Cultures of Mainland Southeast Asia p. 318.48. Glaize49. Described in Michael Buckley, The Churning of the Ocean of Milk (http://www.veloasia.com/library/buckley/churning_milk.html)50. Glaize p. 69.51. Angkor Wat devata inventory ­ February 2010 (http://www.devata.org/2010/02/angkor­wat­devata­inventory/)52. Sappho Marchal, Khmer Costumes and Ornaments of the Devatas of Angkor Wat.53. Ghose, Tia (31 October 2012). "Mystery of Angkor Wat Temple's Huge Stones Solved". livescience.com.54. "Lost City of Angkor Wat". National Geograpic.55. Uchida, Etsuo; Shimoda, Ichita (2013). "Quarries and transportation routes of Angkor monument sandstone blocks". Journal of

Archaeological Science 40 (2): 1158–1164. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2012.09.036. ISSN 0305­4403.56. "Lost Worlds of the Kama Sutra" History channel57. Lehner, Mark The Complete Pyramids, London: Thames and Hudson (1997)p. 202–225 ISBN 0­500­05084­8.58. "Considerations for the Conservation and Presentation of the. Historic City of Angkor" (PDF). World Monuments Fund. p. 65.59. "The Siem Reap Centre, Cambodia". EFEO.60. "The Modern Period: The creation of the Angkor Conservation". APSARA Authority.61. Cambodia. Lonely Planet. 2010. p. 157. ISBN 978­1­74179­457­1.62. Kapila D. Silva; Neel Kamal Chapagain, eds. (2013). Asian Heritage Management: Contexts, Concerns, and Prospects. Routledge. pp. 220–

221. ISBN 978­0­415­52054­6.63. "Activities Abroad#Cambodia". Archaeological Survey of India.64. Phillip Shenon (21 June 1992). "Washing Buddha's Face". New York Times.65. Kapila D. Silva; Neel Kamal Chapagain, eds. (2013). Asian Heritage Management: Contexts, Concerns, and Prospects. Routledge. p. 223.

ISBN 978­0­415­52054­6.66. Michael Falser (ed.). Cultural Heritage as Civilizing Mission: From Decay to Recovery. Springer International. p. 253. ISBN 978­3­319­

13638­7.67. Albert Mumma; Susan Smith. Poverty Alleviation and Environmental Law. ElgarOnline. p. 290. ISBN 978­1­78100­329­9.68. "Royal Decree establishing Protected Cultural Zones". APSARA.69. Yorke M. Rowan; Uzi Baram (2004). Marketing Heritage: Archaeology and the Consumption of the Past. AltaMira Press. p. 123.

ISBN 978­0­7591­0342­9.70. Hing Thoraxy. "Achievement of "APSARA". Archived from the original on 3 March 2001.71. German Apsara Conservation Project (http://ospiti.thunder.it/gacp), Conservation, Risk Map, p. 2.72. "Infrastructures in Angkor Park". Yashodhara no. 6: January – June 2002. APSARA Authority. Retrieved 25 April 2008.73. "The Completion of the Restoration Work of the Northern Library of Angkor Wat". APSARA Authority. 3 June 2005. Archived from the

original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2008.74. Gaylarde CC; Rodríguez CH; Navarro­Noya YE; Ortega­Morales BO (Feb 2012). "Microbial biofilms on the sandstone monuments of the

Angkor Wat Complex, Cambodia". Current Microbiology 64 (2): 85–92. doi:10.1007/s00284­011­0034­y. PMID 22006074.75. Guy De Launey (21 August 2012). "Restoring ancient monuments at Cambodia's Angkor Wat". BBC.76. Justine Smith (25 February 2007). "Tourist invasion threatens to ruin glories of Angkor Wat". The Observer.77. "Executive Summary from Jan–Dec 2005". Tourism of Cambodia. Statistics & Tourism Information Department, Ministry of Tourism of

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Wikimedia Commons hasmedia related to:Angkor Wat (category)

Wikivoyage has a travelguide for AngkorArchaeological Park.

Bibliography

Albanese, Marilia (2006). The Treasures of Angkor (Paperback). Vercelli: White Star Publishers. ISBN 88­544­0117­X.Briggs, Lawrence Robert (1951, reprinted 1999). The Ancient Khmer Empire. White Lotus. ISBN 974­8434­93­1.Forbes, Andrew; Henley, David (2011). Angkor, Eighth Wonder of the World. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN:B0085RYW0OFreeman, Michael and Jacques, Claude (1999). Ancient Angkor. River Books. ISBN 0­8348­0426­3.Higham, Charles (2001). The Civilization of Angkor. Phoenix. ISBN 1­84212­584­2.Higham, Charles (2003). Early Cultures of Mainland Southeast Asia. Art Media Resources. ISBN 1­58886­028­0.Hing Thoraxy. Achievement of "APSARA": Problems and Resolutions in the Management of the Angkor Area.Jessup, Helen Ibbitson; Brukoff, Barry (2011). Temples of Cambodia ­ The Heart of Angkor (Hardback). Bangkok: RiverBooks. ISBN 978­616­7339­10­8.Petrotchenko, Michel (2011). Focusing on the Angkor Temples: The Guidebook, 383 pages, Amarin Printing and Publishing,2nd edition, ISBN 978­616­305­096­0Ray, Nick (2002). Lonely Planet guide to Cambodia (4th edition). ISBN 1­74059­111­9.

External links

Buckley, Michael (1998). Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos Handbook. Avalon TravelPublications. Online excerpt The Churning of the Ocean of Milk (http://www.veloasia.com/library/buckley/churning_milk.html) retrieved 25 July 2005.Glaize, Maurice (2003 edition of an English translation of the 1993 French fourthedition). The Monuments of the Angkor Group (http://www.theangkorguide.com/text/part­two/angkorwat­to­angkorthom/angkorwat.htm). Retrieved 14 July 2005.University of Applied Sciences Cologne. German Apsara Conservation Project (http://www.gacp­angkor.de/) Retrieved 2 May 2010.University of Heidelberg, Germany, Chair of Global Art History, Project (Michael Falser): Heritage as a TransculturalConcept – Angkor Wat from an Object of Colonial Archaeology to a Contemporary Global Icon [1] (http://www.asia­europe.uni­heidelberg.de/en/research/d­historicities­heritage/d12.html)BBC Horizon (4 November 1999). Atlantis Reborn (script) (http://www.grahamhancock.com/horizon/horizon_script_2.htm).Broadcast BBC2 4 November 1999, retrieved 25 July 2005.Angkor Wat and Angkor photo gallery by Jaroslav Poncar (http://poncar.de/gallery.cfm?kategorien_id=3) May 2010Angkor digital media archive (http://archive.cyark.org/angkor­intro) – Photos, laser scans, panoramas of Angkor Wat'sWestern Causeway and Banteay Kdei from a CyArk/Sophia University/University of California partnership.Free 3D virtual interactive model of Angkor Wat (http://vizerra.com/en/locations/angkor­wat)BBC: Map reveals ancient urban sprawl (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6945574.stm) August 2007Guide to the Angkor Monuments – PDF Downloadable English translation of Maurice Glaize's 1944 guide (http://www.theangkorguide.com/)Inventory of Angkor Wat devata (sacred Khmer women) (http://www.devata.org/2010/02/angkor­wat­devata­inventory/)February 2010Laser technology reveals lost city around Angkor Wat (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/18/lasers­lost­city­angkor­wat­cambodia) June 2013Roland Fletcher, director of the Greater Angkor Project, lectures on "LiDAR, Water and the Demise of Greater Angkor" inNovember, 2013 (http://ias.umn.edu/2013/11/07/thurs­angkor­cambodia/)Voice of Angkor, an Angkor Temples Guide (http://www.voiceofangkor.com/)

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Categories: Angkorian sites 12th­century Hindu temples Angkorian sites in Siem Reap Province Khmer EmpireArchaeoastronomy Archaeological sites in Cambodia Buddhist pilgrimages Buddhist temples in Siem Reap ProvinceHindu temples in Siem Reap Province Hindu World Heritage Sites National symbols of Cambodia

Cambodia. Archived from the original on 13 April 2008. Retrieved 25 April 2008.78. "Tourism Statistics: Annual Report" (PDF). Ministry of Tourism. p. 60.79. "Tourism Annual Report 2012" (PDF). Ministry of Tourism.80. "Ticket sales at Angkor Wat exceed 2 million", The Phnom Penh Post, 21 January 201581. Tales of Asia, Preserving Angkor: Interview with Ang Choulean (13 October 2000) (http://www.talesofasia.com/cambodia­interviews­AC.ht

m)82. Winter, Tim (2007). "Rethinking tourism in asia". Annals of Tourism Research 34: 27. doi:10.1016/j.annals.2006.06.004.83. "Borobudur, Angkor Wat to become sister sites". 13 January 2012.

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