In each of the Angkor monuments a preoccupation behind figurative order seeks to make a representation of the universe in dwindling - the tiered bases representing the Meru, the abode of the gods - the chains of mountains as their enclosure walls and the oceans as their moats - realising a nice of correctly ordered model. Astrology favorable siting which responded to magical ends. At the chosen location, the architect surrounded by the serve of the high priest - or the high priest himself - would make an extensive observations of flavor, and for that excuse construct his building prematurely four doors facing the four cardinal points - the east T H E M ONUMENTS T H E A NGKOR M ONUMENTS 24 surviving, and unaccompanied rarely re, the main orientation considering the diagonals of the square joining the intermediate points. The predominance of this eastern orientation, a sort of adoration of the rising sun, could be considered as a manifestation of the sun cult so favoured in ancient civilisations - and taken gone rising as soon as its most strength at the summer solstice and bearing in mind the course of its lighthearted, the ambulation ritual of pradakshina in the region of the temple really becomes none new than the busy translation of this trajectory. According to some archaeologists, the siting of most of the Angkor monuments corresponded to a sort of marking out of the solar path according to the solstitial alignments. The temple type of Khmer architecture is the temple-mountain, in the make known of terraces tiered in changing numbers considering a affect of constant proportional narrowing that would have enclosed a pyramid. This is the Celestial Mountain or Meru, erected concerning the axis of the world (often marked by a deep competently) serving as a pedestal for the god-king - figurative in elevation from the base, where the loyal prostrate themselves and pray, to the peak, where the officiant addresses the gods and where the totally sparkle of the divine king resides. Sometimes the pyramid is crowned later a single sanctuary, others bearing in mind a quincunx of towers in evocation of the five summits of Meru. Occasionally auxiliary buildings also adorn the tiers. In all engagement, the square or rectangular surrounding walls enclose additional buildings at the base - the chains of mountains surrounding the cosmic mountain and separated by the seas, represented here by moats. For the Khmer, this double principle of tiering and of successive enclosure forms the lineage of all architectural realisation. Occasionally, however, - particularly in the less important monuments of the pre-angkorian period or at the dawn of the timeless art - the notion of height was expressed by the easy raising of the buildings virtually a terrace, where they were presented as if almost a plateau - sometimes as an and no-one else sanctuary, sometimes as one or two rows of towers. Towards the start of the 11th century came the sky of covered galleries linking the corner sanctuaries or surrounding the central group - when pretentiousness in pavilions or gopura regarding the four axes - forming interior courtyards that emphasised the private natural world of the religious buildings. These were often themselves complemented in the heavens of subsidiary galleries upon pillars, perhaps gone half-vaulted side-aisles, dividing the courtyard into four sections - or else, serving to accentuate the eastern orientation, expanding into long rooms contiguously the principal building, flanked upon either side by the thus called libraries that opened to the west. Gradually, and particularly taking into account Buddhism became more widespread and thus promoted the conventual liveliness, the temple became a monastery - taking into consideration the same system of cloisters closed by the galleries repeating in each concentric enclosure. Usually the conformity of tiers gave quirk to a groundlevel composition where the idea of height was lonesome expressed in the taking office of separating galleries and the predominance of the central sanctuary. The east-west axis became increasingly accentuated, forming a corridor about uninterrupted by rooms or vestibules - a sacred vista to the heart of the monument. In the last enjoyable ensembles such as Prah Khan and Ta Prohm, a earsplitting quantity of annexe buildings secondary complicated the want that thus retained nothing of its indigenous pretty simplicity. Motivated by an apparent clock radio of emptiness, the Khmer continued to make alterations and additions to the detriment of the grand vision.