The Angkor complex is the most important and highly visited site in Cambodia, and one of the most important religious places in Asia and in the whole world.
The complex, named in 1994 ‘Angkor Wat Archaeological Park,’ spans an area of over 400 km and hosts hundreds of Hindu and Buddhist temples built from the 9th to the 14th century. The most famous, Angkor Wat, is recognized as the largest religious building in the World.
The temples were almost all built during the Khmer empire (802 CE to 1431 CE), during which there was tolerance of various cults within the kingdom.

The site was located around the city of Agkor Thom, the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire, of which today only the perimeter walls with the majestic entrances and some of the temples remain.
City walls, city gates, and the religious buildings were designed to last over time, and therefore built with durable materials (in this case sandstone and laterite, and rarely bricks, which require much more work and effort, but allows buildings to last for centuries).
For this reason, only the religious buildings of Angkor have survived to the present day. The buildings and houses of ordinary people, mostly made of wood, have been lost over time.
With the fall of the Khmer empire in the 15th century, the ancient capital and its places of worship progressively became depopulated, then ignored, then partially forgotten, and after centuries it was essentially lost amongst the vegetation.

The temple of Angkor Wat always remained an active Buddhist temple and monastery for pilgrims, but most of the other temples, because of their progressive abandonment and total lack of maintenance, “disappeared” into the forest.
The tales of a legendary city in the jungle reached the ears of foreign archaeologists in the sixteenth century, but the place garnered popular attention thanks to the testimonies of foreign explorers and scholars, especially Europeans, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Especially during the French colonial period, the importance of the site of Angkor was understood, and the first studies, restoration projects, and protection programs of the archaeological site were implemented.
The restoration works utilized the anastylosis method (restoration technique in which the original pieces of a damaged building are put back together), but they suffered a setback in the late 1970’s during the Khmer Rouge rule and subsequent occupation of Vietnamese troops. The restoration projects would only restart significantly after 1989.

However it was not the civil war or the foreign occupations that caused the greatest damage to the archaeological complex. Some of the most serious damage was due to the stealing of artifacts throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for sale on the black market.
In 1992, the Angkor Archaeological Park was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, allowing the authorities a further control to preserve the archaeological site, with the help of appreciative foreign institutions (especially French and Japanese).
Since the early 1990s, the park has opened up its grounds to a growing number of international visitors, and it has seen exponential tourism growth, from a few thousand visitors a year in the beginning, and up to a few million in recent years.

Nagas are mythological characters that appear all throughout many Asian cultures. The word ‘Naga’ derives from Sanskrit’s “snake,” an animal which holds much symbolic meaning. These mythic creatures are commonly seen in Hinduism and Buddhism, and are very often represented in temples and important sites related to these religions.
These reptile beings are divine, or semi-divine, creatures closely connected to the water element. They often boast magic powers, and are usually represented in 3 forms: snakes, such as cobras or pitons, with multiple heads; half-human, half-snake beings; and humans with snakes attached to their heads or neck.
Nagas are especially dear to Cambodian culture, as Cambodians consider themselves: “born from Nagas.” The legend says that the Khmer people were born from the marriage between the King of Ancient Cambodia and the daughter of the King of the Naga People.
In Cambodia, Nagas are often appear as odd-headed statues (usually 5 or 7), abundantly adorning balustrades, staircases, bridges and gates.

The city of Siem Reap is the main access point to visit the Angkor Wat Archaeological Park.
The site is located about 5km north of Siem Reap, and easily accessible from the city center by private vehicle.
It is not possible to visit Angkor Wat by public transport, and it is necessary to have a private vehicle; the most common are tuktuks or bikes.