Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat (/ˌæŋkɔːr ˈwɒt/; Khmer: អង្គរវត្ត, "City/Capital of Temples") is a temple complex in Cambodia, located on a site measuring 162.6 hectares (1,626,000 m²; 402 acres). The Guinness World Records considers it as the largest religious structure in the world.[2] Originally constructed as a Hindu temple[1] dedicated to the god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire by King Suryavarman II during the 12th century, it was gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the century; as such, it is also described as a "Hindu-Buddhist" temple.[3][4]

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Angkor Wat

អង្គរវត្ត
Front side of the main complex
Location in Cambodia
Location	Siem Reap, Cambodia
Coordinates	13°24′45″N 103°52′0″E
Altitude	65 m (213 ft)
History
Builder	Started by Suryavarman II Completed by Jayavarman VII
Founded	12th century[1]
Cultures	Khmer Empire
Architecture
Architectural styles	Khmer (Angkor Wat style)
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Angkor
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iii, iv
Designated	1992 (16th session)
Reference no.	668
Region	Asia and the Pacific

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This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

Angkor Wat was built at the behest of the Khmer King Suryavarman II[5] in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura (Khmer: យសោធរបុរៈ, present-day Angkor), the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple-mountain and the later galleried temple. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within a moat more than 5 kilometres (3 mi) long[6] and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls. The modern name Angkor Wat, alternatively Nokor Wat,[7] means "Temple City" or "City of Temples" in Khmer. Angkor (អង្គរ ângkôr), meaning "city" or "capital city", is a vernacular form of the word nokor (នគរ nôkôr), which comes from the Tamil/Sanskrit/Pali word nagaram or nagara (Devanāgarī: नगर).[8] Wat (វត្ត vôtt) is the word for "temple grounds", also derived from Tamil/Sanskrit/Pali vattam or vāṭa (Devanāgarī: वाट), meaning "enclosure or border in Tamil".[9]

The original name of the temple was Vrah Viṣṇuloka or Parama Viṣṇuloka meaning "the sacred dwelling of Vishnu".[10][11]