Angkor Wat is visually, architecturally and artistically breathtaking. It is a massive three-tiered pyramid crowned by five beehive-like towers rising 65 meters from ground level. Angkor Wat is the centerpiece of any visit to the temple of Angkor.

At the apex of Khmer political and military dominance in the region, Suryavarman II constructed Angkor Wat in the form of the massive ‘temple-mountain’ dedicated to the Hindu god, Vishnu. It served as his state temple, thought the temple’s uncommon westward orientation has lad some to suggest that it was constructed as Suryavarman II’s funerary temple. Other temples of the same style and period include Thomanan, Banteay Samre, Wat Atwea and Beng Melea, which may have serves as prototype to Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat is surrounded by a moat and as exterior wall measuring 1300 meters x 1500 meters. The temple itself is 1km square and consists of three levels surmounted by a central tower. The walls of the temple are covered inside and out with bas-reliefs and carvings. Nearly 2000 distinctively rendered apsara carvings adorn the walls throughout the temple and represent some of apsara carvings in Angkorian era art. But it is the exterior walls of the lower level that display the most extraordinary bas-reliefs, that a tour guide can be very helpful.