Promethea
🔬 Discovery

Angkor brought to Western attention

Angkor dado a conocer en Occidente

Date
1860 · confidence high
Place
Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Credited to
Henri Mouhot (1860); António da Madalena (1586); École française d'Extrême-Orient
People
👤 Henri Mouhot1826–1861
Field
Cosmos & Earth

What was discovered

The naturalist Mouhot described with enthusiasm the temples of Angkor, capital of the Khmer empire (9th-15th centuries), the largest religious complex in the world, which sparked European interest and restoration by the EFEO.

Coordinates of Angkor Wat. It was never 'lost': it was an active Buddhist monastery known to Cambodians; Mouhot popularised it in Europe.

🌍 View on the globe

What it led to

  • Archaeology of Southeast Asia
  • World Heritage status (1992) and mass tourism
  • LiDAR at Angkor (2012) revealing a low-density mega-city

Built on

  • Zhou Daguan's accounts (1296)
  • 16th-century Portuguese missionaries

Made possible

  • Anastylosis (restoration by reassembly)

Links