Angkor Wat (អង្គរវត្ត, "City of Temples") is perhaps one of the most amazing man-made structures I have been to in my life. Maybe the most amazing structure, given that it was built from 1113-1150 A.D. with no modern technology whatsoever.
(As a warning, I seem to have snapped almost one hundred pictures here, so this may take a bit.)
It was built by the command of King Suryavarman II (~1094 to 1150 A.D.) as a Hindu Temple to Vishnu, one of the principal deities of Hinduism. The site covers 401 acres/162 hectares and is surrounded by a moat. A rarity, the temple is oriented towards the West, not the East.
(Aerial View of Angkor Wat - Source)
The main access to the site is across a moat which measures 620 ft/190 m wide and is 3.1 miles/5 km in perimeter over a sandstone bridge.
Nagas, the serpent spirits of Asian religion, guard the entrance:
Now there's a moat TB, noticed that the building ceased in the same year as the death of that king.
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - The fact this was all done without modern conveniences staggers my mind.
DeleteIt was very much a project of that one particular king, although the temple continued to be used for many years - and is still used as such today.
Now that's a moat. Any idea what the water source is?
ReplyDeleteLeigh, originally it came from the Siam Reap River. In modern times, it is maintained via pumped in water (per the InterWeb).
DeleteWow - I'll join in on what a moat! It's amazing what humans have created through the centuries before modern technology and machines.
ReplyDeleteBecki - It really is impressive. We live in such a modern world, it is sometimes hard (I think anyway) to see such things for what they truly represent.
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