Angkor Wat

[ edit ] Angkor Wat was commissioned by the Khmer king Suryavarman II (ruled 1113– c. 1150 ) in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura (present-day Angkor), the capital of the Khmer Empire . The construction of the temple commenced in 1122 CE and was completed in 1150 CE. The temple complex was constructed on the suggestion of Divākarapaṇḍita (1040– c. 1120 ). The temple was dedicated to Hindu god Vishnu and the original religious motifs were derived from Hinduism . It was built as the king's state temple in the capital city. Historians have often thought that Angkor Wat served as a “temple-city,” but modern analyses of the site suggest that it housed a population of between 3,000 and 4,300 residents. As there are no foundation stela or any contemporary inscriptions referring to the temple's name that have been found, its original name is unknown and it may have been known as Vrah Viṣṇuloka after the presiding deity. The work on the temple ceased after the king's death, leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished.

[ edit ] Angkor Wat is a Buddhist temple complex. Located on a site measuring 162.6 ha (1,626,000 m 2 ; 402 acres) within the ancient Khmer capital city of Angkor, it is considered as the largest religious structure in the world by Guinness World Records .

[ edit ] The temple stands on a raised terrace within the walled enclosure. It is made of three rectangular galleries rising to a central tower, each level higher than the last. The two inner galleries each have four large towers at their ordinal corners (that is, North-west, North-east, South-east, and South-west) surrounding a higher fifth tower. This pattern is sometimes called a quincunx and is believed to represent the mountains of Meru. Because the temple faces west, the features are set back towards the east, leaving more space to be filled in each enclosure and gallery on the west side; for the same reason, the west-facing steps are shallower than those on the other sides. The central tower symbolizing the sacred Mount Meru One of the four corner towers of Angkor Wat Mannikka interprets the galleries as being dedicated to the king, Brahma , the moon , and Vishnu. Each gallery has a gopura with the outer gallery measuring 187 m (614 ft) by 215 m (705 ft), with pavilions at the corners. The gallery is open to the outside of the temple, with columned half-galleries extending and buttressing the structure. Connecting the outer gallery to the second enclosure on the west side is a cruciform cloister called Preah Poan (meaning "The Thousand Buddhas" gallery). Buddha images were left in the cloister by pilgrims over the centuries, although most have now been removed. This area has many inscriptions relating to the good deeds of pilgrims, most written in Khmer but others in Burmese and Japanese . The four small courtyards marked out by the cloister may originally have been filled with water. North and south of the cloister are libraries . A view of the outer gallery of Angkor Wat Beyond, the second and inner galleries are connected to two flanking libraries by another cruciform terrace, again a later addition. From the second level upwards, devata images are abound on the walls, singly or in groups of up to four. The second-level enclosure is 100 m (330 ft) by 115 m (377 ft), and may originally have been flooded to represent the ocean around Mount Meru . Three sets of steps on each side lead up to the corner towers and gopuras of the inner gallery. The steep sta

[ edit ] By the 12th century, Khmer architects had become skilled and confident in the use of sandstone rather than brick or laterite as the main building material. Using SAP2000 , a popular and effective structural analysis tool, graywacke , a durable sandstone usually found in or near water, has been found to make up much of the structures. Recent LIDAR scans have also revealed that the temple was built upon roughly 3 million cubic meters of fill. Most of the visible areas are made of Kulen sandstone blocks, while laterite was used for the outer wall and hidden structural parts. The binding agent used to join the blocks is yet to be identified, although natural resins or slaked lime have been suggested. When doing the base construction, they would focus on bedding plane orientation due to its high structural rigidity characteristics. The monument was made of five to ten million sandstone blocks with a maximum weight of 1.5 tons each. The sandstone was quarried and transported from Mount Kulen, a quarry approximately 40 km (25 mi) northeast. The route has been suggested to span 35 km (22 mi) along a canal towards Tonlé Sap lake, another 35 km (22 mi) crossing the lake, and finally 15 km (9 mi) against the current along Siem Reap River , making a total journey of 90 km (55 mi). In 2011, Etsuo Uchida and Ichita Shimoda of Waseda University in Tokyo discovered a shorter 35 km (22 mi) canal connecting Mount Kulen and Angkor Wat using satellite imagery and believe that the Khmer used this route instead. Through radiocarbon dating, evidence indicates that throughout Angkor Wat's occupation, it was regularly maintained with wooden architectural parts being replaced. Most of the surfaces, columns, lintels and roofs are carved with reliefs illustrating scenes from Indian literature including unicorns, griffins, winged dragons pulling chariots, as well as warriors following an elephant-mounted leader, and celestial dancing girls with elaborate hairstyles. Others depicted boats and other architectural structures. The gallery wall is decorated with almost 1,000 m 2 (11,000 sq ft) of bas reliefs. Holes on some of the Angkor walls indicate that they may have been decorated w