Interesting Facts About Angkor the Ancient City

Angkor, an ancient city, now in ruins, situated just north of the western end of the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) in Cambodia. For six centuries it was the center of the Khmer empire. Its principal monuments are the temple complex of Angkor Wat, the Bayon temple in Angkor Thom, and the city walls and gates.
 
The site first became a settlement in 819 A.D. under the founder of the empire, King Jayavarman II (reigned 802–850). The first city at the exact location of Angkor was Yasoharapura, built almost a century later by King Yasovarman I (reigned 889–900). It became the center of an extensive system of agricultural facilities, including reservoirs, dikes, and irrigation channels, all traversed by elevated roadways. As rebuilt by King Rajendravarman II (reigned 944–968), Angkor included the terraced Phnom Bakeng (one of the lesser monuments) and smaller temples.
 
The Vishnu temple of Angkor Wat, one of the architectural masterpieces of all time, was constructed by the great Cambodian ruler Suryavarman II (reigned 1113–1150). The limestone temple covered an enclosed rectangular area approximately 2,800 by 3,300 feet (850 by 1,000 meters), featuring several concentric square gallery corridors surrounding a central mass that was crowned by five huge lotus-shaped towers, elaborately designed and gilded with gold leaf. The entire Vishnu legend was depicted in relief carvings on the interior wall of the innermost corridor along with pictorial representations of Cambodian life. King Suryavarman employed Thai mercenaries to stave off the threat of Cham enemies, but after his death the city was virtually destroyed by the Cham invasion of 1177.
 
The last of the great Khmer rulers, Jayavarman VII (reigned 1181–1219), after conquering the Chams, built Angkor Thom as a new capital adjacent to the Phnom Bakeng and Angkor Wat monuments. At the city's center was the Bayon, a Buddhist temple with some 50 towers decorated with the monarch's half-smiling face.
 
Beginning in the mid-1200s the Cambodians suffered incursions by the Thai, and in about 1431 they were forced to abandon Angkor and relocate their capital farther south, near Phnom Penh. Irrigation and roadway systems fell into disuse, and all of Angkor was eventually swallowed by the jungle. The ruins were discovered by the French in 1861, and they began restoration work in the 1920s. The Archaeological Survey of India, in collaboration with the Cambodian government, launched a major restoration effort in 1987. In 1995 a committee was formed by several international organizations and the Cambodian government to enhance research and restoration efforts at Angkor.
 
With the devastation of war that consumed Cambodia in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, there was grave concern for the safety of the monuments, and little opportunity for inspection or conservation of any kind. In 1992 the overgrown and deserted temples were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. Upon his coronation in September 1993, King Norodom Sihanouk announced plans to save the site from neglect. He reopened it for archaeological studies, and worked to return it to its former status as a major tourist attraction. The political and military situation remained uncertain, however. With little security or control, sculptures from Angkor continued to appear on the art market. Looting, with its enormous financial incentive, remained a potential menace to the site.
 
In 2007, researchers using satellite maps discovered that the medieval settlement surrounding Angkor Wat had been at least three times larger than previously thought. It had included a complex irrigation system and at least 74 formerly unknown temples. The largest preindustrial settlement of its kind, Angkor could have supported as many as 500,000 inhabitants.
 
In 2011 the brick-by-brick reconstruction of 11th-century Baphuon tower at Angkor, begun in the 1960s and restarted in the mid-1990s, was finally completed. By this time, security had been restored, and the complex was attracting some 2 million tourists annually.

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