The Temples of Angkor

Destination: Angkor, Cambodia

Travel guidebook summary

With insightful profiles for 23 of Angkor’s top temples and nearly 200 high-resolution images, this is the definitive guide to Angkor, Southeast Asia’s premier World Heritage destination. The ancient city’s temples inspire with their innovative architectural designs, world-class narrative reliefs and Hindu-Buddhist iconography. Still infused with their historical magic, they are yours to discover.

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★ ★ ★ ★ ★ An essential guide to Cambodia
This guide was an invaluable resource during our trip to Angkor. The floor plans, photos, and well-presented information make it interesting and easy to use. The guide also ranks the temples, which is very useful while planning visit if your time is limited. I highly recommend this guide.

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Message from the author

“The combination of tremendous scale and detail-work in Angkor’s temples is unrivaled, making it one of the most impressive (and intimidating) sites I’ve ever visited. With this in mind, we chose to focus on big themes that bring all the details into focus and detailed itineraries that point out what is most important. I think we hit the right balance with guidebook … it really lives up to what Approach Guides is all about.”

David Raezer | Founder & Author, Approach Guides

Temples of Angkor: About this Guidebook

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Invaluable insights

Richly detailed with powerful images

Historical context

In-depth and engaging information

Read on all digital devices

Travel information at your fingertips

Guidebook details

Guidebook Description

Angkor — the capital of the Khmer empire that thrived for 500 years from 802-1327 — is one of the most magnificent sites in southeast Asia. The ancient city’s temples inspire with their innovative architectural designs, world-class narrative reliefs and Hindu-Buddhist iconography. Still infused with their historical magic, they are yours to discover.

What’s in this guidebook

Context. We begin by laying out basic features of the Khmer civilization that are particularly relevant for understanding Angkor: the global factors that took the Khmer empire from a fragmented, trade-based society to a centralized, agriculture-based powerhouse; its early cultural exchange with India; the rationale underlying the establishment of the capital in Angkor; and the nature of interactions with southeast Asian neighbors.
Comprehensive look at Angkor’s art and architecture. We examine the distinctive Khmer style of art and architecture, isolating key features that you will see again and again on your temple visits; we tell you what makes them unique and what they symbolize. To make things come alive, we have packed our review with high-resolution images.
Detailed temple profiles. This guidebook provides detailed profiles for twenty-five of the premier religious monuments in Angkor. For each, we provide information on its history, a detailed plan that highlights its most important architectural and artistic features and a discussion that ties it all together.
Advice for getting the best cultural experience. This guidebook supplies logistical advice, maps and links to online resources. Further, to help plan and prioritize your temple touring itinerary, we rank temples based on the quality of their art and architecture and offer brief summaries of each temple’s highlights, so you can focus in on what most interests you. Finally, we give our personal tips for getting the most from your experience while on location.
Information the way you like it. As with all of our guides, this book is optimized for intuitive, quick navigation; information is organized into bullet points to make absorption easy; and images are marked up with text that explains important features.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Watch Before You Go

MEET THE BUILDERS

From Trade to Agriculture

The Importance of Water

Founding

Rulers and Monuments

Southeast Asian Neighbors

The Fall

KHMER ARCHITECTURE

Cosmology Shapes Temple Designs

Defining Features

Sanctuary Plan

Sanctuary Tower Profile

Sanctuary Tower Features

KHMER ART

Relief Style

Recurring Depictions

Hindu Deities

Hindu Sacred Texts

Serpents, Garuda and the Creation Story

Churning of Sea of Milk

Apsaras and Devatas

Makaras and Kirtimukha

Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and Iconoclasm

TOURING THE TEMPLES

Map of Temples

Itinerary

Tickets and Getting Around

ANGKOR THOM *

Layout and Tour Itinerary

South Gate
Phimeanakas
Elephant Terrace
Leper King Terrace

ANGKOR WAT ***

Approaching The Temple

Core Temple Zone

Tour Itinerary

West Entrance Gate (Gopuram)
First Level Relief Galleries

2a. Battle of Kurukshetra

2b. Armed Procession of Suryavarman II

En route: Heavens and Hells

2c. Churning of Sea of Milk

En route: Three Galleries

2d. Winning of Sita

2e. Battle of Lanka

Second Level
Third Level

BAKONG ***

Layout

Tour of Decorative Highlights

BAKSEI CHAMKRONG *

Layout and Decoration

BANTEAY KDEI *

Layout and Decoration

BANTEAY SAMRE ***

Layout

Tour of Reliefs

BANTEAY SREI ***

Outer Area’s Layout and Decoration

Layout of Core Temple Zone

Distinguishing Architectural Features

Tour of Reliefs of Inner Enclosure

BAPHUON **

Layout

Tour of Reliefs

BAYON ***

Layout

Sanctuary

Face Towers

Tour of Relief Galleries

Outer Galleries

Inner Galleries

BENG MEALEA *

Layout

CHAU SAY TEVODA *

Layout and Decoration

EAST MEBON *

Layout

Tour of Decorative Details

LOLEI *

Layout and Decoration

NEAK PEAN **

Layout

Symbolism

Decorative Highlights

PHNOM BAKHENG *

Layout and Decoration

PRASAT KRAVAN **

Layout

Reliefs

PREAH KHAN ***

Layout

Touring the Temple

Processionway
Bridge and Fourth Enclosure Wall
Naga Terrace and Gopuram
Hall of Dancers
Sanctuary
Pediment of Vishnu Reclining
Pediment of Krishna

PREAH KO **

Layout

Decorative Highlights

PRE RUP **

Layout

Decorative Highlights

TA KEO *

Layout and Decoration

TA PROHM **

Layout

Tour of Decorative Highlights

TA SOM *

Layout and Decoration

THOMMANON *

Layout and Decoration

A SPECIAL THANK YOU

PRINT THIS BOOK

TRAVEL TIPS

Continuing Travel in southeast Asia

Cambodia Reading List

What to Eat in Siem Reap

Packing List

About Approach Guides

Additional Info

Extras to enhance your trip

Itinerary & Map

Create your own itinerary with our map and ranking of Angkor’s temples.

Video

Watch our video on the enigmatic faces of Angkor’s Bayon temple

The Temples of Angkor

Travel guidebook summary

Message from the author

Temples of Angkor: About this Guidebook

Guidebook screenshots

Guidebook details

What’s in this guidebook

Extras to enhance your trip

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