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consecrated the temple, built around the same time as European Gothic heavyweights
such as Westminster Abbey and Chartres.
The sandstone blocks from which Angkor Wat was built were quarried more than 50km
away and floated down the Stung Siem Reap on rafts. The logistics of such an operation
are mind-blowing.
The upper level of Angkor Wat is once again open to modern pilgrims, but visits are
strictly timed to 20 minutes.
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Angkor Thom
It is hard to imagine any building bigger or more beautiful than Angkor Wat, but in
Angkor Thom the sum of the parts add up to a greater whole. It is the gates that grab you
first, flanked by a monumental representation of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, 54
demons and 54 gods engaged in an epic tug of war on the causeway. Each gate towers
above the visitor, the magnanimous faces of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara staring out
over the kingdom. Imagine being a peasant in the 13th century approaching the forbidding
capital for the first time. It would have been an awe-inspiring yet unsettling experience to
enter such a gateway and come face to face with the divine power of the god-kings.
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