ANGKOR WAT - CAMBODIA

Angkor Wat was first a Hindu, then subsequently a Buddhist temple in Cambodia. This is the largest religious monument in the world. The temple was built by the King Suryavarman II in the early 20^th century. It is in Yasodharapura, the capital of Khmer empire. Breaking the God Shiva tradition of previous kings, it was built for the God Vishnu. It has become the symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its National flag.

           

Angkor Wat combines 2 basic plans of Khmer temple architecture – the temple mountain architecture and the later galleried temple, based on the early Dravidian architecture, with key features such as the Jagadi. It is designed to represent mount Meru, home of the Devas in Hindu mythology: within a Moat and outer wall 3.6 kilometers long are three circular galleries, each raised above the next.

            The temple is admired for the grandeur for the architecture and for the numerous Devatas adorning its walls.

          

  According to one legend, the construction of Angkor Wat was ordered by the Lord Indra as a palace for his son Precha Ket Mealea. The initial design and construction of the temple was initiated by King Suryavarman II and later it was accomplished by King Jayavarman VII.

            In the late 13^th century, it was bit by bit moved from Hindu to Theravada Buddhist. One of the first Western visitors to the temple was António da Madalena, a Portuguese monk who visited in 1586 and said that - 

“It is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of”.

 In the mid-19th century the temple was visited by the French naturalist and explorer, Henri Mouhot, who popularized the site in the West 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 an honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged."

          

  The Archeological Survey of India carried the restoration work on the temple between 1986 and 1992. The temple is part of the Angkor World Heritage Site, established in 1992 which has provided some funding and has encouraged the Cambodian government to protect the site. The German Apsara Conservation Project is working to protect the Devatas and other bas-reliefs of the temple. Angkor Wat has become the major tourist destination. The two Indonesian airlines considering the opportunity, planned to open a direct flight from Yogyakarta, Indonesia to Siem Reap.