Angkor Wat is Cambodia’s most popular attraction. It is the largest religious🙏 building in the world and one of the most visited religious sites in the world.
Angkor Wat translates to “City of Temples” or simply “City Temple.” The ancient city of Angkor used to be a capital of the ancient Khmer Empire in Cambodia.😮
The temple was built in 12th century as a Hindu temple by King👑 Suryavarman II in the honour of god Vishnu. Later it was converted into a Buddhist temple. It is still in use.
Angkor Wat is oriented to the west, unlike most of the other Cambodian temples that face east. This was done on purpose because the west direction in Hindu religion represents death.☠ It is for this reason that Angkor Wat is also known as the ‘funeral’ temple.
Fun Facts
👉 It was built to preserve the king’s ashes. So, you see the purpose of this complex was the same as that of the pyramids of Egypt.
👉 Angkor Wat is a UNESCO world heritage site.
👉 The blockbuster movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was filmed there.
👉 It attracts two million tourists a year.
👉 It took 35 years to build with the help of approximately 1,000 elephants in addition to the 300,000 labourers.
You can refer to the video