Angkor Wat - largest religious monument in the world

 

Angkor Wat is a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world. It was originally founded as a Hindu Temple for the Khmer Empire, gradually transforming into a Buddhist Temple toward the end of the 12th century

It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II  in the early 12th century in Yasodharapura,present day Anghor, the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum

The temple stands on a terrace raised higher than the city. It is made of three rectangular galleries rising to a central tower, each level higher than the last

Each gallery has a Gopura at each of the points, and the two inner galleries each have towers at their corners, forming a Quincunx with the central tower. Because the temple faces west, the features are all set back towards the east, leaving more space to be filled in each enclosure and gallery on the west side; for the same reason the west-facing steps are shallower than those on the other sides.