God-Kings and Temple-Mountains:<br>The Grand Majesty of Angkor
The Khmer empire flourished from the 9th to the 15th centuries, and the culture was heavily influenced by India's concepts of kingship and the art and architecture of the Hindu and Buddhist religions. When the Khmer court was threatened by Thai advances, it left Angkor and moved to the southeast, leaving the cities and many temples to the mercy of the encroaching jungle. Angkor was probably never totally abandoned, and some temples -- particularly Angkor Wat -- continued to be used by Buddhist monks. The French explorer Henri Mouhot visited Angkor in 1860 and spread the word to the Western world that he had "discovered" the lost city. French expeditions subsequently surveyed the area, and restoration efforts took place from the late 1860s through the 1970s, when war interrupted the work and the jungle reclaimed the architectural treasures. In 1992, Angkor was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and since then, many international efforts -- including the World Monuments Fund, working with Cambodian archeologists and government organizations -- have been conducting ongoing restoration programs.
Khmer god-kings built their temples to symbolize their power and their relationship with the divinity. The temples were an earthly version of the Hindu's mythical Mount Meru, the sacred home of the gods, and served as a link between man and gods. Mount Meru is a five-tiered mountain at the center of the universe (the temple), surrounded by seven chains of mountains (the enclosure walls), and further surrounded by the sea (the moat). Temples were built symmetrically around a central axis and oriented to the cardinal points with emphasis on east-west, the rising and setting of the sun. A causeway over the moat led to the gopura or gateway through the enclosure walls and was a dramatic entrance to the temple. It featured the naga (a multi-headed protective snake) balustrade with stone sculptures of the gods on one side and demons on the other carrying the long sinuous body of the serpent.