We took several hundred pictures in the Angkor Wat temple complex. It is so amazing! We want to share some more pictures. Here is view of Angkor Wat across the surrounding moat.
As we approached, we tried to capture the moment.
There is a lot of symbolism in this structure. First, this temple is facing west. Most temples face east towards the rising sun. We learned of some conjectures as to why:
It was a temple to the Hindu deity Vishnu originally. He is the god of the west.
It is a tomb of death for the king that built it.
Mostly the guide apologized that the light was not right for taking pictures in the morning, because we were facing the wrong way. He told us that photographers come early in the morning and late at night to get just the right light. Sorry, folks, this will have to do.
The entire building features the longest bas relief in the world--700 meters. Here are some shots. So much damage has been done by age, weather and war. Many countries are donating to the preservation and restoration of this ancient site. The carvings below illustrate traditional Apsara dancers.
The two pictures above are of mural carvings illustrating events in Hindu mythology.
The inner courtyards are so beautiful and intricate. There are three levels in the temple. The first level is for the common folk, the second for officials, and the third and highest level is only for the king and the priests. Each group used specific stairs. The king and his priests used very steep stairs-- an 80 percent incline. Thus, climbing the stairs resembles crawling to deity and also returning back down by crawling backwards. The sets of stairs typically have exactly 37 steps representing the 37 levels of heaven.
Everything is symbolic and the entire structure including the moat around it represents the Hindu universe. Later, the complex was taken over by Buddhists who added their own statues and draped the Hindu statues with Buddhist robes.
There were so many beautiful places as we looked out from the top level where, anciently, only the kings and priests were permitted.
There were also some young people in authentic costumes.
We will be back to Angkor Wat. There is so much more we want to learn.
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