10 Magnificent Angkor Temples
Situated between the Tonle Sap lake and the Kulen Mountains in Cambodia, Angkor contains the magnificent remains of several capitals of the Khmer Empire. Angkor served as the seat of the Khmer Empire, which flourished from approximately the 9th to 15th centuries. The hundreds of temples surviving today are but the sacred skeleton of the vast political, religious and social center of the ancient empire. At its zenith the city boasted a population of one million people, the largest preindustrial city in the world. After the fall of the Khmer empire the Angkor temples were abandoned and reclaimed by the jungle for centuries. Situated amid dense rainforest and rice paddies, many of the temples at Angkor have now been restored and welcome over two million tourists each year. Dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, Ta Keo was built as the state temple of Jayavarman V, son of Rajendravarman, who had built the Pre Rup temple. Jayavarman V was 10 years old when he succeeded his father, in 968 AD....