Angkor Wat, Angkor, Cambodia

Angkor Wat ( Khmer: - City Temple) is a temple complex built for the king of the Khmer Empire ( Suryavarman II (ruled 1113 - c. 1150) as his state temple and capital city). The temple was firstly dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, but later became Buddhist. It is the largest religious building in the world and occupies about 2 square kilometers area (1.5kmx1.3km). Angkor Wat was considered as a greatest of all Khmer monuments and stands at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It is considered to be the biggest Asian pyramid with 65m height and several layers. The central part has on the four corners four towers in the shape of a Lotus flower.

Angkor is stretching over some 400 km2, including forested area and contains the magnificent remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire, from the 9th to the 15th century. The great city and temples remained largely cloaked by the forest until 1861, when French traveler Anri Muo discovered the site and later archeological works have started. The most famous temples are the Angkor Wat and, at Angkor Thom (the Great City), the last temple of Empire - Bayon Temple, with its countless sculptural decorations. Another significant element of the Angkor is the irrigation system of the region based on the great reservoirs, which provided the economic infrastructure for the successive Khmer capitals and their rulers. Angkor was placed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and considered one of the most important archaeological sites in South-East Asia.