Khmer civilization build between 8th and 13th century a vast network of religious sites near what now is Siem Raep.
Angor as the site is now called is huge with dozens of temples both Buddhism and Hindu. King Jayavarman VII had the most ambitious building era: almost all of the temples we saw where due to his reign. The French "found" Angkor back in 1860 and opened it up for the rest of the world to admire. It is now considered one of the seven wonders of the world. The French also started a massive restoration project, which was severely hampered by all the wars in Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge. For example: the French had dismantled several temples to reconstruct them later. They painstakingly noted all the millions of stones in this complex 3D puzzle. This guidebook disappeared with the looting of Phnom Peng in 1975 so now we have to figure it out without a clue... Thanks mr. Pol Pot!