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The period of Angkor is the period from approximately the latter half of the 8th century A.D. to the first half of the 15th century. If precise dates are required, the beginning may be set in 802 A.D., when the Khmer King Jayavarman II pronounced himself universal monarch (chakravartin) and declared independence from Java, and the end may be set in 1431 A.D., when Thai invaders from the kingdom of Ayutthaya sacked Angkor and caused the Khmer elite to migrate to Phnom Penh.

In any study of Angkorian architecture, the emphasis is necessarily on religious architecture, since the only remaining Angkorean buildings are religious in nature. During the period of Angkor, only temples and other religious buildings were constructed of stone. Non-religious buildings such as dwellings were constructed of perishable materials such as wood, and as such have not survived.

The religious architecture of Angkor has characteristic structures, elements, and motifs, which are identified in the glossary below. Since a number of different architectural styles succeeded one another during the Angkorean period, not all of these features were equally in evidence throughout the period. Indeed, scholars have recurred to the presence or absence of such features as one source of evidence for dating the remains.

The 12th century temple of Angkor Wat is the masterpiece of Angkorian architecture. Constructed under the direction of the Khmer king Suryavarman II, it was to serve as the monarch's personal mausoleum and as a temple to the Hindu god Vishnu. It was designed as a pyramid representing the structure of the universe: the highest level at the center of the temple represented Mount Meru, the home of the Hindu gods, with the five towers on the highest level representing the five peaks of the mountain. The broad moat around the complex represented the oceans that surround the world.

The central sanctuary of an Angkorian temple was home to the temple's primary deity, the one to whom the site was dedicated: typically Shiva or Vishnu in the case of a Hindu temple, Buddha or a bodhisattva in the case of a Buddhist temple. The deity was represented by a statue (or in the case of Shiva, most commonly by a linga). Since the temple was not considered a place of worship for use by the population at large, but rather a home for the deity, the sanctuary needed only to be large enough to hold the statue or linga; it was never more than a few metres across.^[1] Its importance was instead conveyed by the height of the tower (prasat) rising above it, by its location at the centre of the temple, and by the greater decoration on its walls. Symbolically, the sanctuary represented Mount Meru, the legendary home of the Hindu gods.^[2]

Khmer temples were typically enclosed by a concentric series of walls, with the central sanctuary in the middle; this arrangement represented the mountain ranges surrounding Mount Meru, the mythical home of the gods. Enclosures are the spaces between these walls, and between the innermost wall and the temple itself. By modern convention, enclosures are numbered from the centre outwards. The walls defining the enclosures of Khmer temples are frequently lined by galleries, while passage through the walls is by way of gopuras located at the cardinal points.^[3]

A cruciform gallery separates the courtyards at Angkor Wat.

A gallery is a passageway running along the wall of an enclosure or along the axis of a temple, often open to one or both sides. Historically, the form of the gallery evolved during the 10th century from the increasingly long hallways which had earlier been used to surround the central sanctuary of a temple. During the period of Angkor Wat in the first half of the 12th century, additional half galleries on one side were introduced to buttress the structure of the temple.

A gopura leads into the 12th century temple compound at Ta Prohm.

Many of the gopuras constructed under Jayavarman VII toward the end of the 12th century, such as this one at Angkor Thom, are adorned with gigantic stone faces of Avalokiteshvara.

A gopura is an entrance building. At Angkor, passage through the enclosure walls surrounding a temple compound is frequently accomplished by means of an impressive gopura, rather than just an aperture in the wall or a doorway. Enclosures surrounding a temple are often constructed with a gopura at each of the four cardinal points. In plan, gopuras are usually cross-shaped and elongated along the axis of the enclosure wall; if the wall is constructed with an accompanying gallery, the gallery is sometimes connected to the arms of the gopura. Many Angkorian gopuras have a tower at the centre of the cross. The lintels and pediments are often decorated, and guardian figures (dvarapalas) are often placed or carved on either side of the doorways.

The Hall of Dancers is a type of structure found in the certain late 12th century temples constructed under King Jayavarman VII: Ta Prohm, Preah Khan, Banteay Kdei and Banteay Chhmar. It is a rectangular building elongated along the temple's east axis and divided into four courtyards by galleries. Formerly it had a roof made of perishable materials; now only the stone walls remain. The pillars of the galleries are decorated with dancing apsaras; hence it has been speculated that the hall itself was once used for dancing.

House of Fire, or Dharmasala, is the name given to a type of building found only in temples constructed during the reign of late 12th century monarch Jayavarman VII: Preah Khan, Ta Prohm and Banteay Chhmar. A House of Fire has thick walls, a tower at the west end and south-facing windows.^[4]

Scholars theorize that the House of Fire functioned as a "rest house with fire" for travellers. An inscription at Preah Khan tells of 121 such rest houses lining the highways into Angkor. The Chinese traveller Zhou Daguan expressed his admiration for these rest houses when he visited Angkor in 1296 A.D.^[5] Another theory is that the House of Fire had a religious function as the repository the sacred flame used in sacred ceremonies.

Unusually, the libraries at Angkor Wat open to both the East and the West.

Structures conventionally known as "libraries" are a common feature of Khmer temple architecture, but their true purpose remains unknown. Most likely they functioned broadly as religious shrines rather than strictly as repositories of manuscripts. Freestanding buildings, they were normally placed in pairs on either side of the entrance to an enclosure, opening to the west.^[6]

Srahs and barays were reservoirs, generally created by excavation and embankment respectively. It is not clear whether the significance of these reservoirs was religious, agricultural, or a combination of the two.

The two largest reservoirs at Angkor were the West Baray and the East Baray, located on either side of Angkor Thom. The East Baray is now dry. The West Mebon is an 11th century temple standing at the center of the West Baray; the East Mebon a 10th century temple standing at the center of the East Baray.^[7] The baray associated with Preah Khan is the Jayataka, in the middle of which stands the 12th century temple of Neak Pean. Scholars have speculated that the Jayataka represents the Himalayan lake of Anavatapta, known for its miraculous healing powers.^[8]

The Bakong is the earliest surviving Temple Mountain at Angkor.

The dominant scheme for the construction of state temples in the Angkorian period was that of the Temple Mountain, an architectural representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods in Hindu mythology.^[9] The style was influenced by Indian temple architecture. Enclosures represented the mountain chains surrounding Mount Meru, while a moat represented the ocean. The temple itself took shape as a pyramid of several levels, and the home of the gods was represented by the elevated sanctuary at the center of the temple. The first great Temple Mountain was the Bakong, a five-level pyramid dedicated in 881 A.D. by King Indravarman I.^[10] Other Khmer Temple Mountains include Baphuon, Pre Rup, Ta Keo and most notably Angkor Wat.

Bas-reliefs are individual figures, groups of figures, or entire scenes cut into stone walls, not as drawings but as sculpted images projecting from a background. Narrative bas-reliefs are bas-reliefs depicting stories from mythology or history. Until about the 11th century A.D., the Khmer limited their narrative bas-reliefs to the space on the tympana above doorways. The most famous such bas-reliefs are those on the tympana at the 10th century temple of Banteay Srei, depicting scenes from Hindu mythology as well as scenes from the great works of Indian literature, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. By the 12th century, however, the Angkorian artists were covering entire walls with narrative scenes in bas-relief. At Angkor Wat, the external gallery wall is covered with some 12,000 or 13,000 square meters of such scenes, some of them historical, some mythological. Similarly, the outer gallery at the Bayon contains extensive bas-reliefs documenting the everyday life of the medieval Khmer as well as historical events from the reign of King Jayavarman VII. The Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King are likewise known for their bas-reliefs.^[11]

The following is a listing of the motifs illustrated in some of the more famous Angkorian bas-reliefs:

A bas-relief in a tympanum at Banteay Srei shows Indra releasing the rains in an attempt to extinguish the fire created by Agni.

The Battle of Kurukshetra is the subject of this bas-relief at Angkor Wat.

• bas-reliefs in the tympana at Banteay Srei (10th century)
  • the duel of the monkey princes Vali and Sugriva
  • the duel of Bhima and Duryodhana at the Battle of Kurukshetra
  • the Rakshasa king Ravana shaking Mount Kailasa, upon which sit Shiva and his shakti
  • Kama firing an arrow at Shiva as the latter sits on Mount Kailasa
  • the burning of Khandava Forest by Agni and Indra's attempt to extinguish the flames
• bas-reliefs on the walls of the outer gallery at Angkor Wat (mid-12th century)
  • the Battle of Lanka between the Rakshasas and the vanaras or monkeys
  • the court of King Suryavarman II, the builder of Angkor Wat
  • the Battle of Kurukshetra between Pandavas and Kauravas
  • the tortures of Hell
  • the Churning of the Ocean of Milk
• bas-reliefs on the walls of the Bayon (late 12th century)
  • battles on land and sea between Khmer and Cham troops
  • scenes from the everyday life of Angkor
  • civil strife among the Khmer
  • the legend of the Leper King
  • groups of dancing apsaras

This blind door at Banteay Srei is flanked by colonettes. Above the door is a lintel, above which is a tympanum with a scene from the Mahabharata.

Angkorean shrines frequently opened in only one direction, typically to the East. The other three sides featured fake or blind doors to maintain symmetry. Blind windows were often used along otherwise blank walls.^[12]

Colonettes were narrow decorative columns positioned as supports for the lintel above a doorway. Depending on the period, they were round, rectangular, or octogonal in shape. Colonettes were often circled with molded rings and decorated with carved leaves.^[13]

Corbelled arch at the south gate of Angkor Thom.

Corbelled hallway at Ta Prohm.

The Angkorian Khmer appear to have been ignorant of the true or keyed arch. In all of their constructions, they used the much weaker corbel arch. A corbel arch is constructed by adding layers of stones to the walls on either side of an opening, with each successive layer projecting further towards the centre than the one supporting it from below, until the two sides meet in the middle. The use of this method prevented the Khmer engineers from constructing large openings, and made the temples particularly prone to collapse once they were no longer maintained.^[14]

A lintel is a horizontal beam connecting two vertical columns between which runs a door or passageway. Because the Angkorean Khmer lacked the ability to construct a true arch, they constructed their passageways using lintels or corbelling. A pediment is a roughly triangular structure above a lintel. A tympanum is the decorated surface of a pediment.

Lintel and pediment at Banteay Srei; the motif on the pediment is Shiva Nataraja.

The styles employed by Angkorean artists in the decoration of lintels evolved over time, as a result, the study of lintels has proven a useful guide to the dating of temples. Some scholars have endeavored to develop a periodization of lintel styles.^[15] The most beautiful Angkorean lintels are thought to be those of the Preah Ko style from the late 9th century.^[16]

Common motifs in the decoration of lintels include the kala, the naga and the makara, as well as various forms of vegetation.^[17] Also frequently depicted are the Hindu gods associated with the four cardinal directions, with the identity of the god depicted on a given lintel or pediment depending on the direction faced by that element. Indra, the god of the sky, is associated with East; Yama, the god of judgment and Hell, with South; Varuna, the god of the ocean, with West; and Kubera, god of wealth, with North.^[18]

The stairs leading to the inner enclosure at Ankor Wat are daunting.

Angkorean stairs are notoriously steep. Frequently, the length of the riser exceeds that of the tread, producing an angle of ascent somewhere between 45 and 70 degrees. The reasons for this peculiarity appear to be both religious and monumental. From the religious perspective, a steep stairway can be interpreted as a "stairway to heaven," the realm of the gods. "From the monumental point of view," according to Angkor-scholar Maurice Glaize, "the advantage is clear - the square of the base not having to spread in surface area, the entire building rises to its zenith with a particular thrust."^[19]

Apsaras (left) and a devata (right) grace the walls at Banteay Kdei.

Three apsaras appear on this pillar at the 12th century Buddhist temple the Bayon.

Apsaras, divine nymphs or celestial dancing girls, are characters from Indian mythology. Their origin is explained in the story of the churning of the Ocean of Milk, or samudra manthan, found in the great epic Mahabharata. The widespread use of apsaras as a motif for decorating the walls and pillars of temples and other religious buildings, however, was a Khmer innovation. In modern descriptions of Angkorean temples, the term "apsara" is sometimes used to refer not only to dancers but also to other minor female deities, though minor female deities who are depicted standing about rather than dancing are more commonly called "devatas."

Apsaras and devatas are ubiquitous at Angkor, but are perhaps most common in the foundations of the 12th century. Depictions of true (dancing) apsaras are found, for example, in the Hall of Dancers at Preah Khan and in the famous bas-relief of Angkor Wat depicting the churning of the Ocean of Milk. The largest population of devatas (around 2,000) is at Angkor Wat, where they appear individually and in groups.^[20]

This dvarapala stands guard at Banteay Kdei.

Dvarapalas are human or demonic temple guardians, generally armed with lances and clubs. They are presented either as a stone statues or as relief carvings in the walls of temples and other buildings, generally close to entrances or passageways. Their function is to protect the temples. Dvarapalas may be seen, for example, at Banteay Srei, Preah Khan and Banteay Kdei.^[21]

A kala serves as the base for a deity at the 10th century Hindu temple Banteay Srei.

The kala is a ferocious monster symbolic of time in its all-devouring aspect and associated with the destructive side of the god Siva.^[22] It is often depicted as a monstrous head with a gaping maw lined by large carnivorous teeth. Generally, it is depicted with a large upper jaw but no lower jaw. Some kalas are shown disgorging vine-like plants, and some serve as the base for other figures.

A linga is a phallic post or cylinder symbolic of the god Siva and of creative power.^[23] In the Khmer empire, certain lingas were erected as symbols of the king himself, and were housed in royal temples in order to express the king's consubstantiality with Siva.^[24] The lingas that survive from the Angkorean period are generally made of polished stone, and are often found implanted in base called a yoni, symbolic of the womb. A mukhalinga is a special type of linga on the surface of which is engraved the face of Siva.

A makara is a sea monster with the body of a serpent, the trunk of an elephant, and a head that can have features reminiscent of a lion, a crocodile, or a dragon. It is frequently depicted with some other creature, such as a lion or serpent, emerging from its gaping maw. In Khmer temple architecture, the motif of the makara is frequently used as part of a decorative carving. At Banteay Srei, carvings of makaras disgorging other monsters may be observed on many of the corners of the buildings.

Stone Asuras hold the naga Vasuki on a bridge leading into the 12th century city of Angkor Thom.

Mythical serpents, or nagas, represent a common decorative motif in Khmer architecture. They are frequently depicted as having multiple heads, always uneven in number, arranged in a fan. Each head has a flared hood, in the manner of a cobra. Nagas were important as symbols of water and as figures in the myths of origin for the Khmer people, who were said to be descended from the union of an Indian Brahman and a serpent princess from Cambodia.^[25] Nagas were also characters in other well-known legends and stories depicted in Khmer art, such as the churning of the Ocean of Milk, the legend of the Leper King as depicted in the bas-refliefs of the Bayon, and the story of Mucalinda, the serpent king who protected the Buddha from the elements.^[26]

Naga bridges are causeways or true bridges lined by stone balustrades shaped as nagas. In some cases, as with the bridges at the entrances to Angkor Thom, the nagas are held by a row of stone giants, as described in the story of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk.

A linga in the form of a quincunx, set inside a yoni, is carved into the riverbed at Kbal Spean.

A quincunx is a spatial arrangement of five elements, with four elements placed as the corners of a square and the fifth placed in the center. The five peaks of Mount Meru were taken to exhibit this arrangement, and Khmer temples was arranged accordingly in order to convey a symbolic identification with the sacred mountain. The five brick towers of the 10th century temple known as East Mebon, for example, are arranged in the shape of a quincunx. The quincunx also appears elsewhere in designs of the Angkorian period, as in the riverbed carvings of Kbal Spean.

• Angkor

• Coedès, George. Pour mieux comprendre Angkor. Hanoi: Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient, 1943.
• Freeman, Michael and Jacques, Claude. Ancient Angkor. Bangkok: River Books, 1999. ISBN 0-8348-0426-3.
• Glaize, Maurice. The Monuments of the Angkor Group. 1944. A translation from the original French into English is available online at theangkorguide.com.
• Jessup, Helen Ibbitson. Art & Architecture of Cambodia. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004.

1. ^ Coedès, Pour mieux comprendre Angkor, p.91.
2. ^ See Glaize, Monuments of the Angkor Group, pp.26 ff.
3. ^ Glaize, Monuments of the Angkor Group, p.27.
4. ^ Freeman and Jacques, Ancient Angkor, p.172.
5. ^ Coedès, Pour mieux comprendre Angkor, p.197f.
6. ^ Freeman and Jacques, Ancient Angkor, p.30.
7. ^ Freeman and Jacques, Ancient Angkor, p.161, 188.
8. ^ Freeman and Jacques, Ancient Angkor, p.178.
9. ^ Glaize, The Monuments of Angkor, p.24.
10. ^ Jessup, Art & Architecture of Cambodia, pp.73 ff.
11. ^ Glaize, Monuments of the Angkor Group, p.36.
12. ^ Glaize, Monuments of the Angkor Group, p.40.
13. ^ Glaize, Monuments of the Angkor Group, p.38.
14. ^ Glaize, Monuments of the Angkor Group, p.32.
15. ^ See, for example, Freeman and Jacques, Ancient Angkor, pp.32-35.
16. ^ Freeman and Jacques, Ancient Angkor, pp.32-33.
17. ^ Glaize, The Monuments of the Angkor Group, p.40.
18. ^ Freeman and Jacques, Ancient Angkor, p.20.
19. ^ Glaize, Monuments of the Angkor Group, p.32.
20. ^ See Glaize, Monuments of the Angkor Group, p.37.
21. ^ Glaize, Monuments of the Angkor Group, p.37.
22. ^ Glaize, Monuments of the Angkor Group, p.39.
23. ^ Glaize, Monuments of the Angkor Group, p.16.
24. ^ Coedès, Pour mieux comprendre Angkor, p.60.
25. ^ Glaize, The Monuments of Angkor, p.1.
26. ^ Glaize, The Monuments of the Angkor Group, p.43.