All ancient attractions that have been discovered in the world is a very valuable asset to the country that cannot be replaced. Some of these ancient attractions are dedicated to the empire and religion, these attractions are also a symbol to describe the power of the empire during their reign. One of the countries that have a lot of ancient attractions is Cambodia. This beautiful Country have a lot unique and interesting ancient attractions that were left by the Khmer Empire and other empires that have ruled ancient Cambodia. This country was just being exposed few years back after one of the ancient temples was used for Tomb Raider filming sites. So let’s see what ancient attractions does Cambodia has to offer.
- Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat is a long lost jungle city that was discovered in 1860 by Henri Mouhot. This city is the largest religious monument in the world and dedicated to the god Vishnu for the Khmer empire. This city was originally built to serve as a Hindu temple but it was transformed into a Buddhist temple in the late 12th century. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II and took 30 years to be completed. This vast city covers estimatedly around 162.2 hectares of land. Angkor Wat means The City Temple based on the Khmer direct translation. Legend says that the construction of Angkor Wat was ordered by Indra to serve as the palace for his son Precha Ket Mealea.
- Angkor Thom
Angkor Thom means The Great City based on Khmer’s direct translation. This city is the last capital of the Khmer empire, it was established in the late 12th century by king Jayavarman VII. This great city is built with sandstones and literate. Sadly this great city had been abandoned by the Khmer in early 17th century due to the sacked of Angkor Thom by the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The Khmer under Ponhea Yat was forced to relocate their capital city to Phnom Penh.
- Baphuon Temple
Baphuon Temple is basically a Hindu Temple that is located in Angkor Thom. It was built in the middle of the 11th century and is dedicated to the god Shiva. This temple was built to serve as the state temple of Udayatiyavarman II. This state temple was transformed from a Hindu to Buddhist temple in the 15th century. The temple was so great but sadly some of the parts of the temple collapsed when the Buddha statue was added. It is because this state temple is built on the land made up of sand and the site is unstable.
- Terrace of The Elephants
Terrace of the Elephants is a big platform located in the walled ruined city of Angkor Thom. This platform was used by the King Jayavarman VII to sit or stand while proudly watched his victorious great army return home from war. Furthermore, this platform also served as the grand view platform for the royal family or nobles to be placed to watch all the ceremony. Most of this platform was built with various types of organic materials. This platform was named after the carving elephant on its wall.
- Ta Prohm
Ta Prohm is a temple with Bayon style in the late 12th and early 13th century. This temple was originally known as Rajavihara which means ‘monastery of the king’ while Ta Prohm means Ancestor Brahma. This temple was founded by the Khmer king Jayavarman VII as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university. The purpose of King Jayavarman VII to construct this temple is to honour his family. Sadly after the fall of the Khmer empire in the 15th century the temple was abandoned. After a long period of time being abandoned and left to ruin a very big tree grow on the temple and its root the one hold the temple together and prevent it from collapse. Few years back this temple was used as one of the filming sites for the movie Tomb Raiders.
