Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat spreads across roughly 162.6 hectares south of Angkor Thom and is widely recognised as the largest religious monument ever built. King Suryavarman II raised it in the first half of the 12th century as a state temple and royal mausoleum, dedicating it to the Hindu god Vishnu.

The plan blends two Khmer traditions — the stepped temple-mountain and the galleried temple — into a model of Mount Meru. A 3.6 km outer wall and a wide moat enclose three rectangular galleries that rise one above the other toward a quincunx of five towers.

Unusually for the period, the temple faces west. Visitors come for the sunrise silhouette, the kilometres of bas-relief narrative panels and the thousands of carved devatas that line its walls.