Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat, one of Cambodia’s most visited tourist sites, is believed to have been built by Hindus and Buddhists between the 9th and 12th centuries. As titled biggest temple all around the world, it was first used as a Buddhist temple after Hindu, has the title of being the world’s greatest temple. Spreading over a 2.5-kilometer area with trees growing on it and have a splendid structure, the temple carries the main subjects of the Khmer Architecture and unlike many Angkor temples Angkor Wat is looking towards the west.
Angkor comes from the word “nagara” meaning “city” in Sanskrit and it is accepted as the cultural and commercial center of Khmer Civilization. Although there is not much construction left today from here where 1% of the world’s population lived in the 9th and 15th centuries, Angkor Wat is the most visited place in Cambodia with all its magnificence and glory. As an architectural understanding that covers only religious matters, the main used material is stone and the most important characteristic is being intertwined with nature. Later in the civilization, although different motif experiments were revealed using materials such as brick and clay, experts could never say that these structures are completely ‘Khmer’ style. The key words for the structural characteristics of the Khmer Architecture are as follows; a structure that is increasingly sharp and similar to a finger (prang), a central temple in the building, an entry structure called “gopura”, surrounded by walls or various elements and a rectangular building surrounding a central zone separated by four divisions.
