Well, that’s not entirely accurate.  Angkor Wat is indeed the world’s largest religious monument, but, although largely neglected after the 16th century, it was never fully abandoned.  Cambodians certainly knew of its existence all along, and numerous Europeans had visited it from the 1500s onward.  However, Mouhot deserves some credit – his glowing descriptions of Angkor Wat’s size and magnificence found their way into the public eye and created a worldwide awareness of the site that eventually led to its restoration during the 20th century.

 

Angkor Wat was built in the early 12th century, and some say a divine architect constructed it in a single night.  But ancient inscriptions suggest a more plausible tale – the project took 35 years and involved 300,000 laborers and 6,000 elephants.  Angkor Wat began as a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu and one of its purposes was to be a personal mausoleum for the great Khmer King Suryavarman II.  However, it became a Buddhist temple only decades later and remains one to this day.

 

The size and scope of the Angkor Wat temple city are staggering.  It is said to have been the largest city of the pre-industrial world and comprises a land area larger than modern-day Paris.  A 2.2-mile wall and 3-mile moat surround the temple itself.  The temple city was built from 5-10 million sandstone blocks weighing up to 1.5 tons each, all quarried at least 25 miles away.  That is more stone than was used to build all the Egyptian pyramids combined.

 

Virtually all of Angkor Wat’s surfaces – walls, columns, roofs, etc. – are carved.  It is extensively decorated with literally miles of storytelling reliefs.  These include images of unicorns, griffins, winged dragons pulling chariots, warriors following an elephant-mounted leader, celestial dancing women with elaborate hairstyles, and approximately 1,800 depictions of specific deities.