At one time, the area was a booming metropolis, probably supporting a million people at its heyday. The temple itself was for the gods and everyone, priests included, lived in the surrounding area. The homes were primarily wooden so while stone supports and flooring for homes have been found, the homes have been reclaimed by the jungle. The site also had two libraries (picture on left) – but sadly the “books” were stories and prayers written on palm leaves…you can imagine what happened to those. Fortunately, much of the history of the building and important occurrences at various times were recorded on the columns in Sanskrit so a record, albeit weathered by time, has at least been uncovered and translated.
Sadly, the site was abandoned in the 1400’s, the ruins quite literally over-run by the jungle. Many tales were told about the fabulous buildings but most considered them nothing but legends. It wasn’t until the French discovered the ruins (1800’s) that they came back into the spotlight. The site is now a World Heritage Site, but that didn’t happen until 1992. When you see some of the sites that have not been “restored” (check out Ta Prohm – coming up soon on this blog), you realize just exactly how much work has gone into the restoration process of all of the temples in the Angkor Wat area. Currently at least 100 stone temples have been discovered.
At one time, the area was a booming metropolis, probably supporting a million people at its heyday. The temple itself was for the gods and everyone, priests included, lived in the surrounding area. The homes were primarily wooden so while stone supports and flooring for homes have been found, the homes have been reclaimed by the jungle. The site also had two libraries (picture on left) – but sadly the “books” were stories and prayers written on palm leaves…you can imagine what happened to those. Fortunately, much of the history of the building and important occurrences at various times were recorded on the columns in Sanskrit so a record, albeit weathered by time, has at least been uncovered and translated. 
Sadly, the site was abandoned in the 1400’s, the ruins quite literally over-run by the jungle. Many tales were told about the fabulous buildings but most considered them nothing but legends. It wasn’t until the French discovered the ruins (1800’s) that they came back into the spotlight. The site is now a World Heritage Site, but that didn’t happen until 1992. When you see some of the sites that have not been “restored” (check out Ta Prohm – coming up soon on this blog), you realize just exactly how much work has gone into the restoration process of all of the temples in the Angkor Wat area. Currently at least 100 stone temples have been discovered.
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