Beng Mealea is a large, unrestored temple surrounded and partly overgrown by jungle near Phnom Kulen National Park at considerable distance from Siem Reap and the main Angkor temples. The temple built out of large sandstone blocks adorned with both Hindu and Buddhist depictions is oriented towards the East. As no foundation stele has been found, the temple’s founding date is not known with certainty. Judging from its style, archaeologists believe that Beng Mealea was built by King Suryavarman II during the first half of the 12th century, just before or around the same time as Angkor Wat.
Little Brugge, the perfect pocket-sized medieval city, was a Sleeping Beauty. Laced with canals, it was once a major nexus of trade in medieval Europe, and of art and architecture during the Renaissance. Then, it fell rapidly into decline and slept until rediscovered and restored to glory in the 19th century. Today its new riches are in tourism, carefully managed and constantly refreshed by year-round cultural events, so that it retains the dynamism of a living city.
