The Temples of Angkor or Angkor Wat as they are popularly known, are one of those things to visit when one is traveling through Cambodia and Southeast Asia in general.

Stone vestiges of one of the most important cultures in Asia, the Angkor Wat Temples allow us to know part of the Khmer Empire’s culture.

Today they continue to maintain their importance, formerly political and economic, now simply tourist. Just as the Daigo-ji temple has an important influence as it is the main temple of the Onoryu sect of Shingon Buddhism, but it also extended its influence in politics with some members of political power holding important positions in the temple.

History

To know the history of the Temples of Angkor, we have to go back to the moment of maximum splendor of the Khmer Empire, when Angkor was the capital and the borders of the empire reached as far as Myanmar.
At this time, the city of Angkor was one of the great and modern cities in Asia, being an economic, cultural and military reference equivalent to other empires and societies throughout the world (Mayan, Inca, Roman, Greek and Arab).

As such the Khmer Empire came to a dusk during the invasions from present-day Thailand in the late 16th century with the fall of and abandonment of Angkor.

Over the centuries, the complex went unnoticed and forgotten, the jungle being its only main inhabitant, along with monks and pilgrims who continued to frequent the remains of Angkor Wat.

Origin of the...