Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Over a period of 300 years, between 900 and 1200 AD, the Khmer empire produced some of the world's most magnificent architectural masterpieces on the northern shore of the Tonle Sap, near the present town of Siem Reap. Most are concentrated in an area approximately 15 miles east to west and 5 miles north to south, although the Angkor Archaeological Park which administers the area includes sites as far away as Kbal Spean, about 30 miles to the north. Some 72 major temples or other buildings dot the area.

The principal temple, Angkor Wat, was built between 1112 and 1150 by Suryavarman II. With walls nearly one-half mile on each side, Angkor Wat portrays the Hindu cosmology with the central towers representing Mount Meru, home of the gods; the outer walls, the mountains enclosing the world; and the moat, the oceans beyond. The later capital of Angkor Thom, built after the Cham sack of 1177, has at its centre the Bayon. Construction of Angkor Thom coincided with a change from Hinduism to Mahayana Buddhism. Temples were altered to display images of the Buddha, and Angkor Wat briefly became a Buddhist shrine. A subsequent Hindu revival included a large-scale campaign of desecration of Buddhist images, before Theravada Buddhism14th century. became established from the

During the 15th century, nearly all of Angkor was abandoned after Siamese attacks, except Angkor Wat, which remained a shrine for Buddhist pilgrims. The great city and temples remained largely cloaked by the forest until the late 19th century when French archaeologists began a long restoration process. From 1907 to 1970 restoration of Angkor was under the direction of the Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, which worked to clear away the forest, repair foundations, and install drains to protect the buildings from water damage. After the end of the civil war, work began again, and since 1993 it has been jointly co-ordinated by the French, Japanese and UNESCO through the International Co-ordinating Committee on the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC), while Cambodian work is carried out by the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap (APSARA), created in 1995. The Some temples were carefully taken apart stone by stone and reassembled on concrete foundations. Since the end of the civil war, international tourism to Angkor has increased, posing additional conservation problems.

2001 saw the release of the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, filmed on location at various Angkor sites. Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love, also incorporated scenes filmed at Angkor.

(From Wikipedia)