The great city of Angkor Thom isn’t just a ruin, it’s a palimpsest of power, religion, blood and time. It’s where Hindu deities once danced with Buddhist ideals and where a king tried to become a god in the eyes of the world. Carved into the Cambodian jungle in 1181AD by the empire’s most ambitious rule King Jayavarman VII, this immense stone citadel rose as the crowning capital of the ancient Khmer Empire.

Chiselled from rose-pink sandstone, this beautiful, miniature Hindu temple was built in 967AD and is the only major temple credited to be built not by a monarch but by a Brahmin of royal descent. Named Yajnavaraha, it is believed he was an important scholar, philanthropist and royal physician who helped those who suffered from illness, poverty or injustice.