An empire lost and found
Angkor: a testament to the magnificence of the khmer empire
Saturday, April 4, 2009
An empire that spanned 600 years, from 801-1431, built a complex of architectural wonders spread out over a 400 sq. km. area North of Tonle Sap lake. After the Siamese sacked Angkor for the final time the Khmer abandoned their spiritual capital and Mother Nature reclaimed the area. Buried in the midst of the jungle for four centuries, the area was rediscovered by French naturalist Henri Mouhot in 1861 and has since become one of the most significant archeological sites in the world.
One of the roughly 200 smiling faces, said to resemble Jayavarman VII as the omnipresence of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, decorating the 37 remaining towers of the Bayon temple in Angkor Thom.
