Angkor: the Khmer empire and Angkor Wat

In 802 Jayavarman II proclaims himself god-king and founds the Khmer state; its capital Angkor at its height will stretch over hundreds of square kilometres, with a web of canals and reservoirs that fed the rice fields. In the first half of the twelfth century Angkor Wat is built here—a temple of Vishnu with five towers and galleries of carving kilometres long; a century later it becomes Buddhist. The state lives by Indian faith and script, but by its own language and its own art. In 1431 the Siamese take Angkor, and the capital moves south; the city is overgrown by forest, the temple is not: prayer goes on in it to this day.