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Angkor Wat is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia, built in the capital city for King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as the state temple. The largest and best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious center—first Hindu, then Buddhist—since its foundation. The temple is the epitome of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and is the country's prime attraction for visitors. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple mountain and the later galleried temple. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the gods in Hindu mythology. At the center of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of its architecture and for the extensive bas-reliefs and the numerous devatas adorning its walls. Unusually, Angkor Wat faces the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

President Bush waving from the train outside Bowling Green during his whistle-stop campaign

... that during George H. W. Bush's 1992 presidential campaign, he conducted a whistle-stop tour (pictured) on a train named Spirit of America?
... that surgeon Alexander Crombie was the first to inject morphine as a premedication?
... that Kammermusik by Paul Hindemith comprises eight chamber-music compositions, including a wind quintet and six solo concertos for various instruments?
... that the new director of DARPA, Stefanie Tompkins, was paid by NASA to analyze Moon rocks?
... that the Romans copied the Phoenician joints technique from a Punic warship that ran aground in 264 BC?
... that despite being warned that her "female parts would be damaged", Susan Beharriell recorded 80 hours in a jet during her time training fighter pilots?
... that Hulk Hogan testified in the United States v. McMahon steroids trial that WWF chairman Vince McMahon never bought steroids for him?
... that British actress Marie Empress was last seen on a Cunard liner bound for New York?

In the news

Cyclone Tauktae

Cyclone Tauktae (pictured) makes landfall in India, killing 51 people and leaving 100 others missing, and forcing the evacuation of over 200,000 people.
In association football, Leicester City win the FA Cup, and Manchester City win the Premier League.
The China National Space Administration's Tianwen-1 lander-rover vehicle successfully lands on Mars.
A school shooting in Kazan, Russia, leaves nine people dead.

On this day

May 19: Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day in Turkey (1919); Ho Chi Minh's Birthday in Vietnam

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

715 – Gregory II began his pontificate; his conflict with Byzantine emperor Leo III eventually led to the establishment of the temporal power of the pope.
1743 – French physicist Jean-Pierre Christin published the design of a mercury thermometer using the centigrade scale, with 0 representing the melting point of water and 100 its boiling point.
1911 – Parks Canada, the world's first national park service, was established as the Dominion Parks Branch under the Department of the Interior.
1991 – Breakup of Yugoslavia: With the local Serb population boycotting the referendum, Croatians voted in favour of independence from Yugoslavia.
2018 – The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (both pictured) took place at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, England.

Mariam-uz-Zamani (d. 1623)
Nora Ephron (b. 1941)
Jeffrey Catherine Jones (d. 2011)

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Today's featured picture

Portsmouth Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in the centre of Old Portsmouth in Portsmouth, England. It is the cathedral of the Diocese of Portsmouth and the seat of the bishop of Portsmouth. This photograph shows the cathedral's West Great Organ, installed in 2001 to supplement the existing pipe organ that had been installed by Nicholson & Co Ltd in 1994 by speaking directly into the nave.

Photograph credit: David Iliff

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