Angkor CL

Built more than a thousand years ago by rulers of the Khmer empire, the ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia (now Kampuchea) is home to the world's largest religious edifice, Angkor Wat. Its highly decorated stone towers seem to drip down from the heavens; its myriad images drawn from Hindu mythology include graceful apsaras --celestial dancers--which a French scholar called ``the highest expression of femininity ever conceived by the human mind.'' From a three-week visit in Kampuchea in 1989, photographer-writer Freeman and journalist Warner have produced an invaluable, breathtakingly beautiful record of Angkor Wat and its outlying temples, many badly deteriorated due to neglect and the ravages of civil war. Hundreds of glorious color photographs and drawings complement their informal yet information-packed essay. Among the many wonders shown are the pyramid temple of Phimeanakas and the Bayon, a Buddhist temple of 52 towers strewn with enormous stone faces wearing enigmatic expressions. Author tour. (Nov.)