Angkor Wat

• The construction of Angkor Wat suggests that there was a celestial significance with certain features of the temple. This is observed in the temple's east–west orientation, and lines of sight from terraces within the temple that show specific towers to be at the precise location of the solstice at sunrise.
• Key Facts

  Angkor Wat is a Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Siem Reap, Cambodia within the ancient Khmer capital city of Angkor.

  Built by Suryavarman II - ruler of the Khmer Empire

  Founded in 1150
• The temple was dedicated to Hindu god Vishnu and the original religious motifs were derived from Hinduism.
• Temple Plan

  Angkor Wat is a unique combination of the temple mountain and the later plan of concentric galleries, most of which were originally derived from religious beliefs of Hinduism.
• What is the temple a representation of?


  The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods according to Hindu mythology: the central quincunx of towers symbolise the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat symbolise the surrounding mountain ranges and ocean.
• The temple was dedicated to which Hindu god?

  Vishnu - the preserver and protector of the universe
• What is different about Angkor Wat and how does this serve the commissioner's intention?


  Angkor Wat is oriented to the west rather than the east. This has led scholars including Maurice Glaize and George Coedès to hypothesize that Suryavarman intended it to serve as his funerary temple.
• How do we know Suryavarman intended for Angkor Wat to be his funerary temple?


  Evidence for this view is provided by the bas-reliefs, which proceed in a counter-clockwise direction - as this is the reverse of the normal order. Rituals take place in reverse order during Brahminic funeral services
• Eleanor Mannikka argues that the structure represents a claimed new era of peace under King Suryavarman II:


  "this divine mandate to rule was anchored to consecrated chambers and corridors meant to perpetuate the king's power and to honour and placate the deities manifest in the heavens above."
• How is Angkor Wat is the prime example of the classical style of Khmer architecture—the Angkor Wat style—to which it has given its name?

  the elements characteristic of the style include:

  • the ogival
  • redented towers shaped like lotus buds
  • half-galleries to broaden passageways
  • axial galleries connecting enclosures
  • cruciform terraces which appear along the main axis of the temple.
• How do the decorative elements suggest Angkor Wat is a prime example of Khmer architecture?

  typical decorative elements include:

  • devatas (or apsaras)
  • bas-reliefs
  • pediments
  • extensive garlands
  • narrative scenes.
• The temple has drawn praise for the harmony of its design. According to Maurice Glaize...

  the temple "attains a classic perfection by the restrained monumentality of its finely balanced elements"
• Architect Jacques Dumarçay believes the layout of Angkor Wat borrows...


  Chinese influence in its system of galleries which join at right angles to form courtyards. However, the axial pattern embedded in the plan of Angkor Wat may be derived from Southeast Asian cosmology in combination with the mandala represented by the main temple.
• Under the southern tower is...


  a statue known as Ta Reach, originally an eight-armed statue of Vishnu that may have occupied the temple's central shrine.
• How could Angkor Wat be considered a part of nature?

  Galleries run between the towers and two further entrances on either side of the gopura often referred to as "elephant gates", as they are large enough to admit those animals.
• Historical context


  The building of Angkor Wat is likely to have necessitated some 300,000 workers, which included architects, construction workers, masons, sculptors, and the servants to feed these workers.
• The building of temples by Khmer kings was a means of legitimizing their claim to political office and also to lay claim to the protection and powers of the gods. Hindu temples are not a place for religious congregation; instead, they are homes of the god.
• Bas-reliefs - the most important narrative represented at Angkor Wat is the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, which depicts a story about the beginning of time and the creation of the universe.


  The relief depicts the moment when the two sides are churning the ocean of milk. In the detail above you can see that the gods and demons are playing a sort of tug-of-war with the Naga or serpent king as their divine rope