When Henri Mahout, the French botanist, stumbled across Angkor Wat in 1860, he was stunned by its vast size, soaring towers, dramatic carvings and endless courtyards, avenues and buildings. From ground level, [P 002 / Angkor Wat] looms out of the forest, a great pyramid of stone surrounded by a huge moat with [P 013 / wide causeways]leading up to it. An aerial view gives a good idea of its [L3 211 / size and layout].
Built by King Suryavarman (1113 - 1150), it was a realization in stone of the cosmic universe. The magic mountain, Mount Meru, is in the center, surrounded by oceans and plains. The 12th-century architects who built this temple brilliantly overcame technical difficulties and found [L3 212 / architectural methods] to construct a monument so large, so complex and yet with every smallest part so beautifully decorated and detailed.
Explorers past and present were amazed, some believing it to be the work of another civilization or conqueror who had lived in quite a different age; some even thinking it must be the work of gods. [L3 213 / P 036 / Carvings] embellish miles of stone, telling the stories of Hindu mythology. Statues are everywhere, from the large imposing lions and [G 22 / nagas] flanking the causeways and stairways, to the tiny carving of a god, protected in a niche and hidden away in the corner of a dark inner sanctuary.
Angkor Wat has been well cared for over the centuries. Since the city was abandoned in 1431, [P 003 / Buddhist monks] occupied the temple and cleared the vegetation away which did such damage to the other temples. The [G 12 / Ecole d'Extreme Orient] worked on the temple from 1907 until the Vietnam War disrupted the region too much for them to continue.
Today Angkor stands fully restored and once again is occupied by Buddhist monks. It is the largest religious monument in the world, both a pilgrimage destination and an architectural creation which visitors have marveled at over many years.
