In the 9th Century King Jayavarman II, declared himself supreme sovereign, established a capital, and joined the small, independent states that had previously defined the Khmer history. On the shores of Tonle' Sap Lake he established his kingdom and the building of the temples began. The middle of the 12th Century marks the peak of Angkor's power and influence, and the construction of Angkor Wat. The Khmer Kingdom endured until the middle of the 16th Century.
We found it bizarre that the Khmer empire worshipped Hindu Gods when the area is now Buddhist. It is believed that Indian traders sailed from India and spent large portions of each year in the Khmer Kingdom waiting for the winds to turn and blow them back to India. During this time the Indians shared their religious beliefs which the Khmer Kingdom adopted along side their traditional dieties which likely received more attention, but whose shrines would have been made of perishable materials. Jayavarman VII (1181) was a feverent Buddhist and responsible for the construction of Angkor Thom and the Bayon, Ta Prohm, Banteay Kdei and Preah Khan. Unfortunately, Jayavarman VIII (1243) was responsible for great destruction of the Buddhist imagry as he tried to restore and improve the Hindu Temples.
The temples were not meeting places for the faithful, but palaces of the Gods who were enshrined there. The temples are not homes of one God, but many Gods. This is why they are built as groupings of multiple shrines with a main divinity at the center. The temples are constructed of brick, laterite and sandstone. Laterite dries into a very strong material and so was used for foundations, but it has a deeply pitted surface that makes it unsuitable for finish work. Thus, sandstone was used for the decoration and carvings. Although the temples are beautiful in their monocromatic hews, just as the Parthenon in Greece was painted, the Angkor temples were also painted.
Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN46a_PjKFM
