The Angkor Wat Temple

Quote: "Angkor Wat - the largest, most important and most famous temple complex of Angkor.

The word Angkor is a local form of the word Nokor which comes from the Sanskrit word nagara, meaning city. Wat is the word for temple in all the countries of Indochina and, among others in Burma, and Thailand. Angkor Wat and the words together mean "Temple City".

Angkor was built by Suryavarman II (1113-1150 A.D.) in honor of the Hindu deity Vishnu, which, as the ruler-god, this king is identified. Time of construction of the temple is estimated to be 32 to 35 years. Zbudawana the rock - laterite - due to its high hardness.

One of the greatest treasures of Angkor Wat is a stone "arras" stretching over a length of over 900 meters, which bears almost 20,000 characters depicting realistic scenes from the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, as well as the life of the court. Notable is one of the most famous and most representative works of art Khmer: gods and demons churn the Sea of ​​Milk, to extract from the depths of the elixir of immortality. All reliefs are characterized by extremely subtle beauty and great precision. Reliefs in the whole Angkor originally painted in many colors. Gold-plated towers Bajonu sparkled in the sun.

In the heart of the temple, dominating over all other elements, there was a golden statue of Vishnu riding on the back of Garuda - the sacred bird of the human body, with a beak and claws of a predator.

It is the best preserved example of Khmer architecture. Angkor Wat was built as a Hindu temple. After the death of the reigning temple was turned usually in the mausoleum. Jayavarman VII transformed the building at a Buddhist temple. After his death, symbols Buddhist temple has been destroyed and restored Hindu character. "

During this stay in the complex of Angkor the greatest pleasure was to stay within the monumental temple, imagining how it looked while  functioning in times in which it arose.

The setting sun added another range of colours highlighting the beauty of the temple.

Angkor Wat is probably the most photographed object in the world. We’ve included  few pictures, but they are ours!