Angkor

The city of Angkor in northern Cambodia was the seat of the powerful Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th century. Today, the ruins of Angkor are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Cambodia's most popular tourist attraction.

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.