Beng Mealea

Beng Mealea (Khmer: ប្រាសាទបឹងមាលា, lotus pools) is a Hindu temple in Cambodia and constitutes one of the most brilliant centers of the Khmer Empire of Angkor. The complex has since 1992 a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Conditioning of the Temple

Beng Mealea lies about 40 km east of Angkor and heard of the style in the mid-12th century, however, there are no inscriptions. Therefore, one can only assume that the complex was built by King Suryavarman II. Although designed as a Hindu temple, there are also Buddhist symbols. The temple is mainly built with sandstone and left largely original with partially overgrown structures. Until a few years the plant was difficult to achieve, a new road to Koh Ker now provides better connectivity.

The complex of the temple covers an area of 181 meters by 152 meters and was the center of a city, which in turn was surrounded by a 45 meter wide moat of 1,025 meters in length from east to west and 875 meters north-south direction. Beng Mealea is oriented to the east, but also has inputs in the other directions. To the east is a Baray. Many of the reliefs depict scenes from Hindu epics with Vishnu and Shiva.