WHEN WAS ANGKOR WAT DISCOVERED?
No one really discovered Angkor Wat as the temple complex was never ‘lost’. The religious monument/city, covering around 400 acres, was built over three decades in the 12th century by King Suryavarman II of the Khmer Empire. He intended it to be his funerary temple and the new capital, dedicating it to the Hindu deity Vishnu.
Angkor Wat became the pride of the empire, with its five central towers representing the peaks of Mount Meru, dwelling place of the gods. And even when it was sacked, turned into a Buddhist centre of worship and largely abandoned over the centuries, the complex remained populated.