We’re in for three postings about Angkor Wat over the next few days. Today, let’s look at the buildings and site. The next two posts will cover the wonderful friezes.
Most temples traditionally face east, the direction of the sunrise and hope. But Angkor Wat faces west, the direction of death. Some scholars have conjectured that the Wat was intended as a mausoleum, but no remains have ever been found. So… maybe not.
Construction was begun early in the reign of King Suryavarman II, who reigned from 1113 to 1150 AD, and the temple was mostly completed in the first half of his reign. Considering that this may be the world’s largest religious building, this is no small feat.
With an outer wall 2.2 miles long, the Wat encloses an area of over two hundred acres. It has more stone than the Great Pyramid. Sacked by the enemy Chams in 1177, Angkor Wat was never completely abandoned, even after a new Khmer king built the Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom in the following century.
We approached Angkor Wat from the east and then ascended the stairs to the galleries of carved stone friezes (more on these later).
After viewing the friezes, we crossed some inner galleries, to see some Buddhas still actively worshipped today. (I should note here that although the temple was originally consecrated to Vishnu, it became Buddhist when the Khmer people did.)
The friezes near the entrances and exits are apsaras, heavenly dancing girls who await the righteous, er, men. Cute, aren’t they? So welcoming! I wonder what they do for the righteous women.
Afterwards, we made our way out the western entrance, across a long stone causeway, past numerous ancillary structures and the remains of a great moat.
Looking back even just from the midway point, the temple was far away. And awesome.