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.
Let me take you to explore and discover Penang through my series of walking tours on YouTube. You may use these videos as your virtual tour guide. At the beginning of each video, I provide the starting point coordinates which you may key into your GPS, Google Maps or Waze, to be navigated to where I start the walk, and use the video as your virtual tour guide.
Disclaimer
Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.
Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.