Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument on Earth
A 12th-century Cambodian temple still holds the world record for the largest religious structure ever built.
Angkor Wat — its name means “City Temple” — sprawls across 162.6 hectares (401 acres), making it the largest religious structure in the world by Guinness World Records.
The Khmer king Suryavarman II had it built between roughly 1113 and 1150 CE, originally as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu. A vast moat and an outer wall 1,280 metres long enclose the complex, which once supported a surrounding population of tens of thousands.
From the late 13th century onward, Angkor Wat was gradually converted into a Buddhist site and has remained an active place of worship ever since — one of very few ancient monuments never fully abandoned. It is so central to national identity that it appears on Cambodia’s flag.
Sources & references
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