Angkor: Celestial Temples of the Khmer Empire

Jon Ortner has been passionately photographing in Asia for twenty-five years: His images have appeared in several books including Abbeville's Sacred Places of Asia: Where Every Breath Is a Prayer.

Built between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries by a succession of twelve Khmer kings, Angkor spreads over 120 square miles in Southeast Asia and includes scores of major architectural sites. In 802, when construction began on Angkor War, financed by wealth from rice and trade, Jayavarman II took the throne, initiating an unparalleled period of artistic and architectural achievement, exemplified in the fabled ruins of Angkor, center of the ancient empire. Among the amazing pyramid-and mandala-shaped shrines preserved in the jungles of Cambodia is Angkor Wat, the world's largest temple, an extraordinarily complex structure filled with iconographic detail and religious symbolism. Perhaps because of the decline of agricultural productivity and the expansion of the Thai Empire, Angkor was abandoned in the fifteenth century and left to the ravages of time. Today many countries are working to conserve and restore the temples, which have been inaccessible until recently. Now that the civil war has ended, Angkor is being reborn and is an increasingly popular tourist destination.

Introduction by Jon Ortner History, Culture, Religion, and Cosmology by Ian Mabbett: Angkor Wat Calendrical Significance of Angor Wat by Eleanor Mannikka Phnom Bakheng - Baksel Chamkrong - Angkor Thom: Bayon - Angkor Thom: South Gopura & Causeway; Gopura - Victory Gate East; East Tower and Gate (Gate of Death); Moat; Elephant Terrace; Royal Terrace; Baphuon; Royal Enclosure: Phimeanakas; Prah Palilay; Tep Pranam; Prah Pithu Group; Prasat Suor Prat; North Kleang and South Kleang - Chou Seh Tevoda - Thommanon - Keo - Ta Nel Architecture and Conservation by John Sanday: Ta Prohm - Banteay Kdel - Sra Srang - Prasat Kravan - Preah Khan - Neak Pean - Ta Som Hydrology by John Goodman: East Mebon - Western Baray (West Mebom) - Pre Rup - Banteay Srei - Banteay Samre - Roluos: Bakong - Roluos: Preah Ko - Roluos: Lolei - Phnom Krom - Tonle Sap Lake & floating villages - Beng Mealea - Kbal Spean - Phnom Kulen - Issan Thailand: Prasat Phnom Rung; Prasat Phimai; Muang Tam; Prasat Sikhoraphum - Preah Vihear Afterword: Preservation of the Cultural Heritage by Kerya Chau Sun