Inner Sanctuary of Angkor Wat

Inner Sanctuary of Angkor Wat (26 February, 2006)


The Inner Sanctuary of Angkor Wat lies at the very centre of Angkor Wat. Having made one full circle around Angkor Wat, let us now venture into the Inner Sanctuary. We begin from the Main Entrance again, and climbs the stairs in the semi-darkness to Angkor Wat's second level. This is the "cruciform cloisters", a Khmer architectural invention connecting the galleries of the first and second levels.

From here, we find the "Hall of a Thousand Buddhas", so called because of the many Buddha statues that were placed here by worshippers over the centuries, when Angkor Wat was a Theravada Buddhist pilgrimage site. Many were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge, and a good many are now in safekeeping by Angkor conservationists.

The central portion of Angkor Wat (26 February, 2006)


From here on, the stairs going up to the innermost sanctuary is breakneck steep. If you are not surefooted, head to the stairs on the south side where there is an iron railing by the side to aid your climb. The climb is surely worthwhile, if you can make it, for the view is stupendous. You can see all the way to the outer gates of Angkor Wat, and even to Phnom Bakheng.

The innermost sanctuary consists of a continuous gallery that is 60 meters square. Four towers, called prasats, rise from each corner. The central prasat, towering 42 meters high, is connected to the rest by axial galleries. Within this "holiest of holies" are shrines whose usage has changed since the construction of Angkor Wat. Originally this innermost sanctuary housed a statue of Vishnu, but somewhere in the 14th or 15th Century, it was converted and now consists of four vestibules housing Buddhas.

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

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