Angkor Wat Temple: The Crown Jewel of Cambodia

www.wiseyatra.com

Angkor Wat Temple: The Crown Jewel of Cambodia

Angkor Wat, Cambodia's famous UNESCO World Heritage Site, is breathtaking and thrilling to explore. The temple ruins have a way of igniting the inner archaeologist in all of us. You won't soon forget wandering the sprawling, carved ruins of a once-great civilization!

The Location of Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is located roughly five miles north of the modern Cambodian city of Siem Reap, which has a population of more than 200,000 people.

However, when it was built, it served as the capital of the Khmer empire, which ruled the region at the time. The word “Angkor” means “capital city” in the Khmer language, while the word “Wat” means “temple.”

The primary Angkor Wat site is spread over 402 acres, but Khmer ruins are scattered far across Cambodia. New sites are discovered beneath the jungle foliage each year.

How to Get to Angkor Wat

To get to Angkor Wat, you'll need to arrive in Siem Reap, find accommodation, and get an early start on the ruins the following day.

The main Angkor Wat site is close enough to Siem Reap to reach by bicycle. For those less excited about cycling in Cambodia's sticky heat, catch a tuk tuk  or hire a knowledgeable driver for the day to help you between temples.

Flying to Angkor Wat

Siem Reap International Airport (airport code: REP) is connected to South Korea, China, and major hubs throughout Southeast Asia, including Bangkok. The airport is located around 4.3 miles from the center of Siem Reap. Upscale hotels offer free airport shuttles, or you can take a fixed-rate taxi for around US $7.

Angkor Wat Entrance fees

With so many remote temples away from the main tourist site and ruins to see, you'll most likely want at least a three-day pass to fully appreciate the monument without rushing around too much.

The entrance fees for Angkor Wat increased dramatically in 2017. The ticketing counters now accept major credit cards other than American Express.

·        One-day pass: US $37

·        Three-day pass: US $62

·        Seven-day pass: US $72

You should dress conservatively when purchasing your ticket; cover shoulders and knees. Whatever you do, don't lose your pass! The penalties for not being able to show it when asked are steep.

Ten Magnificent Angkor Wat Temples

Situated between the Tonle Sap lake and the Kulen Mountains in Cambodia, Angkor contains the magnificent remains of several capitals of the Khmer Empire. Angkor served as the seat of the Khmer Empire, which flourished from approximately the 9th to 15th centuries. The hundreds of temples surviving today are but the sacred skeleton of the vast political, religious and social center of the ancient empire.

1. Ta Keo

Dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, Ta Keo was built as the state temple of Jayavarman V, son of Rajendravarman, who had built the Pre Rup temple. Jayavarman V was 10 years old when he succeeded his father, in 968 AD. When he was aged 17, he began the construction of his own state temple, whose modern name is Ta Keo.

2. Banteay Kdei

Little is known about this mysterious temple. It is presumed that Banteay Kdei was a Buddhist monastery as hundreds of Buddha statues have been excavated from the site. 

3. Pre Rup

With its three central spires, Pre Rup looks a bit like a mini Angkor Wat. Pre Rup was built as the state temple of king Rajendravarman in 961 and was dedicated to Shiva. It was the second temple built after the capital was returned to Angkor from Koh Ker after a period of political upheaval.

4. Preah Kahn

The temple of Preah Kahn is one of the largest complexes at Angkor. Like the nearby Ta Prohm temple, Preah Khan has been left largely unrestored, with numerous trees growing among the ruins. Preah Khan was built by king Jayavarman VII and probably served as his temporary residence while Angkor Thom was being built.

5. Phnom Bakheng

Dedicated to Shiva, Phnom Bakheng is a Hindu temple in the form of a temple mountain. It was constructed at the end of the 9th century, more than two centuries before Angkor Wat , during the reign of King Yasovarman. Located on top of a hill, the temple is a very popular tourist spot for the magnificent sunset views.

6. Banteay Srei

Located far (about 32 km/20 miles) from the main group of temples, Banteay Srei is one of the smallest sites at Angkor. Due to its beautiful carvings however it is extremely popular with tourists and considered a jewel of Khmer art.

7. Angkor Thom

The last great capital of the Khmer empire, Angkor Thom (literally “Great City”) took monumental to a whole new level. It was built in part as a reaction to the surprise sacking of Angkor by the Chams. The most fascinating way to enter Angkor Thom is through the south gate. The causeway here is flanked by 54 gods and 54 demons depicting parts of the popular Hindu legend “The Churning of the Ocean of Milk”.

8. Ta Prohm

It  is undoubtedly the most atmospheric and photogenic ruin at Angkor, with trees growing out of the ruins. Built from 1186, Ta Prohm was a Buddhist temple dedicated to the mother of Jayavarman VII.

It is one of the few temples in Angkor where an inscription provides information about the temple’s inhabitants.

9. Bayon temple

 The Bayon temple features a sea of over 200 massive stone faces looking in all direction.

The curious smiling faces, thought by many to be a portrait of king Jayavarman VII himself or a combination of him and Buddha, are an instantly recognizable image of Angkor.

Built in the 12th century by King Jayavarman VII as part of a massive expansion of his capital Angkor Thom, the Bayon is built at the exact center of the royal city. 

10. Angkor Wat Temple

 Angkor Wat (meaning “City Temple”) is the most magnificent and largest of all Angkor temples. The structure occupies and enormous site of nearly 200 hectares (494 acres). 

Built under the reign of king Suryavarman II in the first half of the 12 century, Angkor Wat is the pinnacle of Khmer architecture. The famous bas-reliefs encircling the temple on the first level depict Hindu epics.

In the late 13th century, Angkor Wat gradually moved from a Hindu temple to a Theravada Buddhist one. Unlike other temples at Angkor which were abandoned after the fall of the Khmer empire in the 15th century, Angkor Wat remained a Buddhist shrine.

General Information: Angkor Wat Temple

·     Angkor Wat is the primary reason that more than 50% of international tourists visit Cambodia each year. Cambodians are proud of their ancient monument, so proud that they put it on the Cambodian flag in 1850. Images from Angkor Wat also appear on many denominations of the riel (Cambodia's currency).

• The Angkor ruins stretch over more than 248 square miles (400 square kilometers). Many visitors mistaken the size of Angkor and visit only a few of the most visited temples.
• Angkor Wat is unusually oriented to the west, a direction typically associated with death in Hindu culture. Archaeologists and scholars disagree as to why the ancient builders chose to deviate from the norm (pointing structures east) at the time.
• Bas-reliefs at Angkor Wat read counterclockwise, another indication that the temple is associated with funeral rituals.
• Also unusual for the time of construction, Angkor Wat was dedicated to Vishnu, a Hindu deity, rather than the current king.
  
• The original outer wall at Angkor Wat once enclosed the temple proper, city, and royal palace, occupying a space of 203 acres (820,000 square meters). Nothing remains of the wall today.
• Many visitors do not realize that many surfaces of the Angkor temples were once painted. Today, only small traces of the paint remain on just a few temples.

History

• Constructed in the early 12th century (between 1113 and 1150), Angkor Wat is considered to be the largest religious monument in the world.
• The sandstone used to construct Cambodia's national monument, at least 5 million tons worth, had to be carried from a quarry 40 Km away. Cambodians are pretty tiny people, so try to imagine them carrying bricks weighing up to 1,500 kilograms each from a quarry almost 40 kilometres from the site and it just doesn’t add up. The workers had to get creative, which is why it’s thought that canals were used to move the sandstone up the river. The entire city of Angkor used more stone than all the Egyptian pyramids combined, and took over an area larger than modern-day Paris. Angkor is thought to have taken 35 years, 3,00,000 workers and 6,000 elephants.
• Angkor Wat was shifted from Hindu to Buddhist use sometime around the late 13th century. The temple is still used by Buddhists as a place of worship today.
• One of the first Westerners to see Angkor Wat was Antonio da Madalena, a Portuguese monk, who visited in 1586. Long before Europeans arrived, a Chinese emissary named Zhou Daguan lived in Angkor for one year between 1296 and 1297; he created a written account of his experience there sometime before 1312. Zhou Daguan's book, the only account of 13th-century Angkor, was translated into English by Peter Harris in the book A Record of Cambodia.
  
• Henri Mouhot, a French explorer, helped bring Angkor Wat to fame in the West by publishing an account of his visit in the mid-19th century. His book is Travels in Siam, Cambodia, Laos, and Annam.
• Angkor Wat was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. The site suffered from decades of unregulated tourism and looting; many ancient statues have been decapitated and their heads sold to private collectors. An international collaborative effort has helped to slowly restore sites and prevent further collapse of unstable structures.
  
• Sokimex, a private company founded by an ethnic Vietnamese-Cambodian businessman, has rented Angkor Wat from Cambodia since 1990 and manages tourism there for profit. Sokimex also has a petroleum division, manages hotels, and runs Sarika Air Services.
• Most of the money to restore Angkor Wat comes from foreign aid. Only an estimated 28% of ticket sales goes back into the temples. In 2000 Hollywood rolled into town with Angelina Jolie to film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, putting the lost city of Angkor firmly on the map, injecting tens of thousands of much-needed dollars into the local economy. One lucky baby also won the lottery when Angelina Jolie adopted the seven-month-old after visiting an orphanage.
• The Angkor temple Ta Prohm—famous for the large vines that strangle the ruins—was used as the set for the hit movie Tomb Raider. Paramount was charged US $10,000 per day for seven days to film there. Unfortunately, some of the iconic trees growing through the ruins at Ta Prohm have had to be removed to preserve the temple from further collapse.