The ruins of Angkor are located just north of the great Cambodian
lake, the Tonle Sap, and outside the town of Siem Reap. The city, built between 900 and 1200, contains over 1000 temples featuring intricate stone carvings which tell various complex stories relating to the religious beliefs of the Khmer rulers. The religious beliefs of the Khmer Empire combined elements of
Hinduism and
Buddhism. The central temple,
Angkor Wat, constructed as a personal mausoleum by King Suryavarman II between 1113 and 1150, was designed to portray the legends of
Hindu cosmology in stone. In the 15th century, Angkor was sacked and abandoned, and only in 19th century did French
archaeologists begin to explore the extent of the once grand city.