Angkor Wat is considered to be the most important archaeological site in Asia, covering four hundred years of history and the remains of several religions. It's not "Anger What?" but Angkor, a region in Cambodia, plus "Wat," which means temples. The temples of Angkor, built by the Khmer civilization between 802 and 1220 A.D., cover a huge area that was the domain of kings who ruled from Vietnam to China and the Bay of Bengal.
A World Heritage Site, Angkor stretches over some 150 square miles, including forested area and the magnificent temples at Angkor Archaeological Park. They include the famous Temple of Angkor Wat and, at Angkor Thom, the Bayon Temple with its countless sculptural decorations. UNESCO has set up a wide-ranging program to safeguard this symbolic site and its surroundings.
Today, 100 stone temples remain because they were built in stone. The public buildings, palaces, administrative headquarters and houses were built of wood and have long since decayed and gone. A visit to Angkor Wat is an extraordinary glimpse back in time to the religious practices of ancient societies. The remaining gray temples leave an indelible memory.
Conventional theories presume the lands where Angkor stands were chosen as a settlement site because of their strategic military position and agricultural potential. Alternative scholars, however, believe the geographical location of the Angkor complex and the arrangement of its temples was based on a planet-spanning sacred geography from archaic times. Using computer simulations, it has been shown that the ground plan of the Angkor complex mirrors the stars in the constellation of Draco at the time of spring equinox in 10,500 B.C. While the date of this astronomical alignment is far earlier than any known construction at Angkor, it appears that its purpose was to architecturally mirror the heavens in order to assist in the harmonization of the Earth and the stars.
At the temple of Phnom Bakheng, there are 108 surrounding towers. The number 108, considered sacred in both Hindu and Buddhist cosmologies, is the sum of 72 plus 36 (36 being ½ of 72). The number 72 is a primary number in the sequence of numbers linked to the earth's axial precession. Another mysterious fact about the Angkor complex is its location 72 degrees of longitude east of the Pyramids of Giza. The temples of Bakong, Prah Ko and Prei Monli at Roluos, south of the main Angkor complex, are situated in relation to each other in such a way that they mirror the three stars in the Corona Borealis as they appeared at dawn on the spring equinox in 10,500 B.C. It is interesting to note that the Corona Borealis would not have been visible from these temples during the 10th and 11th centuries when they were constructed.
During a half-millennia of Khmer occupation, the city of Angkor became a pilgrimage destination of importance throughout Southeastern Asia. Sacked by the Thai in 1431 and abandoned in 1432, Angkor was forgotten for a few centuries. Wandering Buddhist monks, passing through the dense jungles, occasionally came upon the awesome ruins. Recognizing the sacred nature of the temples, but ignorant of their origins, they invented fables about the mysterious sanctuaries, saying they had been built by the gods in a far ancient time. Centuries passed, these fables became legends, and pilgrims from the distant reaches of Asia sought out the mystic city of the gods. A few adventurous European travelers knew of the ruins and stories circulated in antiquarian circles of a strange city lost in the jungles. Most people believed the stories to be nothing more than legend, however, until the French explorer Henri Mouhot brought Angkor to the world's attention in 1860. The French people were enchanted with the ancient city and beginning in 1908 funded and superbly managed an extensive restoration project. The restoration has continued to the present day, excepting periods in the 1970s and 80s when military fighting prevented archaeologists from living near the ruins.
