Angkor Wat

The largest temple in the world

Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world, built 900 years ago. The moat around it is 5 km long! Its walls have 2,000 statues of dancers and kilometres of carved pictures. Some nearby temples are wrapped in the roots of giant trees — as if the jungle is swallowing the city. Angkor Wat is on Cambodia's flag.

Angkor Wat (12th century, King Suryavarman II) was a Khmer Empire temple dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, later Buddhist; at 162 hectares it is the largest religious structure in the world. Its 5 towers represent Mount Meru (the centre of the world in Hindu cosmology) and the moat the ocean. 5–10 million sandstone blocks were brought 40 km by canal; construction took 30 years. The bas-reliefs run 800 m (including the 'Churning of the Ocean of Milk'). The city of Angkor, with 1 million people in the 13th century, was the largest pre-industrial city in the world, with a sophisticated water system. Ta Prohm temple has been taken over by trees (tetrameles). Lidar surveys in 2012–2015 revealed a city hidden under the forest. A UNESCO site (1992), 2.5 million visitors a year.

Fun facts

• The city of Angkor, with a million people 800 years ago, was the largest city in the world.
• The temple's stones were floated 40 km along canals.
• Angkor Wat is the only building shown on a national flag (Cambodia's).