Located on a site measuring 162.6 hectares (1,626,000 m2; 402 acres) within the ancient Khmer capital city of Angkor, it was originally constructed in 1150 CE as a Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Vishnu.

Considered by some experts to be the largest religious structure in the world, it is regarded as one of the best examples of Khmer architecture and a symbol of Cambodia, depicted as a part of the Cambodian national flag.

[8][11][12] After the transformation from a Hindu centre of worship to Buddhism towards the end of the 12th century, Angkor Wat continues to be a Buddhist center till the present day.

[14] Fourteen inscriptions dated from the 17th century, discovered in the Angkor area, state that Japanese Buddhist pilgrims had established small settlements alongside Khmer locals.

The temple is surrounded by a moat, and access is by a single bridge, protected by two stone tigers so grand and fearsome as to strike terror into the visitor.

Mouhot popularised the site in the West through the publication of travel notes, in which he wrote:One of these temples, a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo, might take an honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings.

[18]Mouhot's work was published posthumously in 1864 through the Royal Geographical Society with descriptions of Angkor under the title Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China, Siam, Cambodia and Laos.

This quickly led to Cambodia reclaiming lands in the northwestern corner of the country including Siem Reap, Battambang, and Sisophon which were under Siamese rule from 1795 to 1907.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, far more damage was done to the reliefs by art thieves working out of Thailand who lopped off many sculptures and other structures, including earlier reconstructions.

The German Apsara Conservation Project (GACP) was launched to protect the devatas, and other bas-reliefs that decorate the temple from further damage when the organization's survey found that around 20% of the reliefs were in very poor condition mainly because of natural erosion and deterioration of the stone, but also in part also due to earlier restoration efforts.

[42] In December 2015, it was announced that a research team from the University of Sydney found a previously unseen ensemble of buried towers that were built and demolished during the construction of Angkor Wat, as well as a massive structure, with wooden fortifications, of unknown purpose on its south side.

[48] Drawing on the temple's alignment and dimensions, and on the content and arrangement of the bas-reliefs, researcher Eleanor Mannikka argues that the structure represents a claimed new era of peace under King Suryavarman II: "as the measurements of solar and lunar time cycles were built into the sacred space of Angkor Wat, this divine mandate to rule was anchored to consecrated chambers and corridors meant to perpetuate the king's power and to honour and placate the deities manifest in the heavens above.

Architecturally, the elements characteristic of the style include the ogival, redented towers shaped like lotus buds; half-galleries to broaden passageways; axial galleries connecting enclosures; and the cruciform terraces which appear along the main axis of the temple.

"[59] Architect Jacques Dumarçay believes the layout of Angkor Wat borrows Chinese influence in its system of galleries which join at right angles to form courtyards.

However, the axial pattern embedded in the plan of Angkor Wat may be derived from Southeast Asian cosmology in combination with the mandala represented by the main temple.

[61] Access to the temple is by an earth bank to the east and a sandstone causeway to the west; the latter, the main entrance, is a later addition, possibly replacing a wooden bridge.

In 1934, the conservator George Trouvé excavated the pit beneath the central shrine: filled with sand and water it had already been robbed of its treasure, but he did find a sacred foundation deposit of gold leaf two metres above ground level.

[69] Integrated with the architecture of the building, one of the causes for its fame is Angkor Wat's extensive decoration, which predominantly takes the form of bas-relief friezes.

[70] From the north-west corner anti-clockwise, the western gallery shows the Battle of Lanka from the Ramayana, in which Rama defeats Ravana; and the Kurukshetra War from the Mahabharata, depicting the mutual annihilation of the Kaurava and Pandava armies.

They incorporated larger devata images (full-body portraits measuring approximately 95–110 cm or 37–43 in) more prominently at every level of the temple from the entry pavilion to the tops of the high towers.

In 2011, Etsuo Uchida and Ichita Shimoda of Waseda University in Tokyo discovered a shorter 35 km (22 mi) canal connecting Mount Kulen and Angkor Wat using satellite imagery and believe that the Khmer used this route instead.

[79] Most of the surfaces, columns, lintels and roofs are carved with reliefs illustrating scenes from Indian literature including unicorns, griffins, winged dragons pulling chariots, as well as warriors following an elephant-mounted leader, and celestial dancing girls with elaborate hairstyles.

Based on experiments, the labour force to quarry, transport, carve and install so much sandstone probably ran into the thousands including many highly skilled artisans.

[80] The skills required to carve these sculptures were developed hundreds of years earlier, as demonstrated by some artefacts that have been dated to the seventh century, before the Khmer came to power.

[81] From a historical and trans-cultural perspective, however, the temple of Angkor Wat did not become a symbol of national pride by itself but had been inscribed into a larger politico-cultural process of French-colonial heritage productions.

Tourism has also provided some additional funds for maintenance—as of 2000 approximately 28% of ticket revenues across the entire Angkor site was spent on the temples—although most work is carried out by teams sponsored by foreign governments rather than by the Cambodian authorities.

[96] Since Angkor Wat has seen significant growth in tourism throughout the years, UNESCO and its International Co-ordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC), in association with representatives from the Royal Government and APSARA, organised seminars to discuss the concept of "cultural tourism", emphasising the importance of providing high-quality accommodation and services to the tourists and for the Cambodian government to benefit economically, while also incorporating the richness of Cambodian culture.

It has also been noted that such high frequency of tourism and growing demand for infrastructure has had a direct effect on the underground water table, subsequently straining the structural stability of the temples at Angkor Wat.

[99][100][101] Cambodia, including Angkor Wat, reopened to international visitors in late 2021, but as of the end of 2022 had only received a fraction of its pre-pandemic traffic: a total of 280,000 tourists visited the complex in 2022, versus 2.6 million in 2018.

[103] Tourists reenacting the 2011 game series Temple Run in mid-2024 for social media have drawn criticism from conservationists who warn that it risks damaging Angkor Wat's structures and carvings and is culturally insensitive.