There are many unique works that have survived to the present day with their cultural importance and the value they add to humanity. Although seven of these artifacts are known as the “Seven Wonders of the World”, many more unique artifacts are taken under protection by UNESCO and passed on to future generations.
Today, we will talk about Angkor Wat, which is under the protection of UNESCO, where we come across different productions and which we could not notice even though we saw it many times.
Angkor Wat, which took 30 years to build and is the largest temple in the world, is known as a structure that served two different beliefs, just like Hagia Sophia.
Angkor Vat (Wat), which was known as the largest city in the world with its 162-hectare area until the Industrial Revolution, was the capital of the Khmer Empire under the name Yaśodharapura in the past, and which we can translate into Turkish as the Temple City, is today a center of very high cultural value for Cambodia and the world.
The construction process of the temples, which started in 1115 within the borders of the Ancient City of Angkor, took 30 years. Completed in 1145, the temples were designed as Hindu temples in accordance with the belief system of that day. Later they were reorganized as Buddhist temples.
Even more stones than the Egyptian Pyramids were used to build this huge temple.
King II. As you can imagine, very serious material was used for Angkor Wat, which was built by Suryavarman and consisted of 39 separate temples, covering an area of 400 square kilometers.
If you want to know the amount of stone used in 39 temples, you can visualize this number by making a very simple comparison. The pyramids in Egypt are structures that we all know and dazzle the whole world, right? Even the number of stones in the Egyptian Pyramids is less than the number of stones in Angkor Wat. During the construction of Angkor Wat, 10 million stones, each weighing an average of 1.5 tons, were used.
Angkor Wat, a unique artifact for the world, has been under protection by UNESCO for 30 years to be passed on to future generations.
- For those who haven’t seen it before, the flag of Cambodia
Angkor Wat, which has an extraordinary importance for Cambodia and even has a silhouette on the Cambodian flag, was added to the World Cultural Heritage list by UNESCO in 1992 and was taken under protection.
Although the world got to know Angkor Wat in 1858 with the book “Journey to the Kingdoms of Siam, Cambodia and Laos” written by the French naturalist Henri Mouhot, Angkor Wat achieved its real fame with Angelina Jolie’s Lara Croft: Tom Raider.
Unknowingly, we all visited Angkor Wat and had fun there; too many times!
When some scenes of the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which was released in 2001 and starring Angelina Jolie, were shot in Angkor Wat, there was an influx of tourists. Cambodia, whose tourism revived thanks to the influx of tourists, invited Jolie for Cambodian citizenship and also gave her the title of cultural ambassador.
Ta Prohm Temple, where the movie scenes were shot, is now known by many as the Tomb Raider Temple. In addition, some scenes of Temple Run, which almost everyone has played at least once, belong to Angkor Wat. Likewise, scenes from Angkor appear in some series of the Tomb Raider game.
Here is a scene from parts of the movie set in Angkor Wat:
So what do you guys think about Angkor Wat? Have you ever been to Angkor Wat while watching Lara Croft: Tomb Raider or playing Temple Run?
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