Angkor, Cambodia
Every year nearly a million people visit the hundreds of temples -- there are said to be more than one thousand in all -- located in the 9th century city of the Khmers at Angkor, 314 km from the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.
Angkor Wat, which was dedicated to Vishnu and then later to Buddha, is the most famous of this enormous group of shrines and is thought to be the largest temple in the world.
Some facts you probably did not know:
Khmer king Yasovarman I built the first temple at Angkor around 890 AD.
Work on Angkor Wat began in 1113 AD under Suryavarman II and it took 37 years to build. Perhaps because Vaishnavism was then on the rise in India the temple honoured Vishnu rather than Shiva and bears resemblance to Chola and Oriya temples of that era.
Angkor was plundered by invading Thai kings in the 15th century and except for Angkor Wat which continued to be frequented by Buddhist monks, the temple city was deserted, perhaps because of a shortage of water. Today too, Angkor suffers from a shortage of water.
Photograph: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images
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