Don't just visit Cambodia - Live it!
Cambodia is a little known and yet astonishing destination, with its spectacular features, sublime beauty and friendly people. The tourist attractions in the country are considerable and diverse, ranging from outstanding architectural and cultural sites, wildlife and natural attractions, mountains, lakes, rivers, beautiful beaches, numerous islands, attractive towns and cities and a rich culture. In particular, Cambodia, as the home of the 7th wonder of ancient world, the Angkor Temples “the lost city of Angkor”, has a distinct marketing adventure over other Asian countries. Khmer architecture was inspired by Indian models, both Hindu and Buddhist. However, the ancient Khmer civilization developed its own art, architecture and spatial organization as vividly demonstrated in the religious monuments of Angkor and in the design of the cities and of the landscapes. The kings built elaborate temples to their god and decorated them with narrative reliefs. They also developed extensive hydrological systems to manage water for irrigation and to supply the urban and temple complexes. Rivers were straightened into canals and vast storage reservoirs - Barays – were created behind dykes. The largest, 8 km by 2.2 km, has a storage capacity of some 70 million cubic meters. Dykes were built across the flood plain to deflect and retain the flood waters to irrigate crops. The annual rise and fall of the Tonle Sap lake ( the Great Lake ) was exploited to grow first, floating rice on the rising flood and then, receding rice as the waters subsided. Massive blocks of sandstone were quarried in the Phnom Kulen and shipped by land or waters to the city sites to construct temples.
The most outstanding monument, Angkor Wat ( 9th to 12th century ), has a wall and moat of 5.5 km long. The central temple rises to over 55 meters in height. Angkor Thom, the last of the cities, is formed in square and surrounded by a wall 8 m high and a moat 12 km long. At its height, Angkor Thom and the surrounding metropolitan area may have held over one million inhabitants who, in turn, would have depended on a large suburban hinterland. However, no archaeological remains of the domestic buildings have yet been recovered notably as these were constructed of timber and have rotted in the humid tropical conditions.
In 1991, Cambodia ratified the World Heritage Convention and in December 1992, the site of Angkor was submitted for inscription on the world Heritage List on the basis of the following criteria:
- It represents a unique artistic achievement, a masterpiece of creative genius;
- it has exerted great influence over a span of time, within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture, monumental arts, and landscaping;
- it bears a unique exceptional testimony to a civilization which has disappeared; and
- it is an outstanding example of an architectural ensemble which illustrates a significant stage in history.
