Aside from the grandiose capital Angkor Thom and the immense and well preserved temple complex of Angkor Wat, the Angkorean landscape is filled for hundreds of kilometers in every direction with other various temples and structures. Some still standing, some lying in remnants, yet all retain much cultural and religious importance in understanding the Khmer empire's seat of power. Many were built before the 11th century, when much of Angkor Wat was begun. There is difficulty understanding the complete range of Angkorean design in architecture.. how far did it extend? The greater percentage of buildings constructed, with the exception of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom were constructed using materials that degraded quickly and left less tangible records.

One of the most beautiful temples still surviving is Banteay Srei, a 10th century temple unique by it's design and it's purpose - it is the only temple not built for a king, but instead for a high official. It was constructed from fine pink hued sandstone and decorated elaborately with friezes, bas-reliefs and free standing sculptures.

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images ©Mike & Lourdes Samson, curtesy of SnapshotAsia

Other temples located outside Angkor Wat or Thom are Neak Pean, Banteay Samre, Lolei, Baksei Chamkrong, Preah Koh, and several others scattered around the area. Much further afield from Angkor proper is Kbal Spean (some 25 miles away near the Stung Kbeal Spean river), Banteay Chhmar even further distance and Beng Mealea. Hundreds of temples have been discovered in ruins throughout the jungles, some still laid with land mines and uncleared for visitors, efforts are underway to clear a greater area and experts expect many more ruins to be found given time. It is this greater area surrounding Angkor of building sites that leads historians and ecologists to form the theory that Angkor's expanding territory and vast populated areas likely caused droughts and mudslides from overclearing.

A note about the Barays:
Several barays or resovoirs were built in the main fields of Angkor, some long since dried up and others still full of water, told to be always cool and a great attraction for playing children and animal life alike. The Srah Srang, an early baray built in the 10th century and located east of Angkor Thom is now dried. The two largest resovoirs, West Baray and East Baray can even be seen from space, their size is so tremendous. Smaller temples of unknown purposes were built in the center of both. The Eastern Baray is now dry as well.

The two primary sources used in this summary are:

• Angkor.com
  
• Wikipedia.org

Photographs were primarily taken from the following:

• SnapshotAsia
  
• stock.xchng