As a part of my sabbatical in 1997 and 1998, I intended to read some books I had not found time for in the crazy world of teaching and web developing. I had the opportunity to read a book on Angkor Wat that I had wanted to read since hearing so much about this wondrous ancient place. As I read Eleanor Mannikka's book (Angkor Wat: Time, Space, and Kingship,) I was caught by the shear complexity of Angkor and the magical world it represented as a place for the Khmer. We often forget to think about ruins as places where you can walk through them and think about who built them and why. We tend to consider them as objects of beauty and Angkor is no exception. Yet they were much more. They were places that make political and religious statements aimed at an audience - the Khmer people. Angkor as Mannikka tells us is a place where Khmer identity, religion, and history unfolds. Angkor Wat is truly a monument to the great minds of the Khmer culture and to those cultures that so greatly influenced it.

Mannikka's book was difficult to digest so I read it again and then once more. As I read it, I realized that in my mind this place called Angkor Wat was coming alive. I think in "hypermedia" and began a process of building Mannikka's insights into this web exploration of Angkor Wat. I encourage anyone who is interested in the deeper insights about Angkor to read Angkor Wat: Time, Space, and Kingship (University of Hawai'i Press, 1996.) I would recommend you contact amazon.com to purchase this book.

I hope that I have understood Mannikka's work and have interpreted it correctly in constructing this web area devoted to this magical place we call Angkor Wat.

The pictures used in this module have been taken from Angkor Wat: Time, Space and Kingship and National Geographic Magazine.