Angkor Wat, Standing Buddha in the Hall of 1000 Buddhas (first level, interior gallery)

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The object depicted in the image is made of the following material(s): sandstone, laterite

Information about the creation of the object depicted in the image: 1113-1150

Information about the restoration of the object depicted in the image: 1948, 1950, 1954, 1961

Angkor Wat is the best known and largest of all the monuments from the Angkorian period (9th-12th centuries). Suryavarman II (1113-c.1150) built Angkor Wat in the first half of the twelfth century as his state temple. Based on the temple’s orientation towards the west, scholars agree that it was likely dedicated to Visnu. The temple complex is delimited by its surrounding moats (more than 3 miles in circumference), which places it among the world’s largest religious sites with an area of 494 acres. Aside from its monumental scale, Angkor Wat is renowned for its architectural complexity, and it features cruciform terraces, naga balustrades, and elaborately carved pediments and columns. The monument is symbolic of the cosmic temple mountain, or Mount Meru, and consists of a quincunx pyramid design with concentric galleries. These galleries contain approximately 600 meters of narrative bas-reliefs illustrating scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics, and nearly 2000 depictions of Apsaras. After the movement of the capital to around Phnom Penh in the fifteenth century, the complex was transformed into a Buddhist worship site. Henri Mouhot rediscovered the site in 1860 and French colonial archeologists began excavation and restoration projects in 1901.

Source for information about the object depicted in the image: Mannikka, Eleanor. Angkor Wat: Time, Space, and Kingship. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996. Freeman M. and C. Jacques. Ancient Angkor. London: Thames and Hudson, 1999.

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