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Exploring the Religious and Spiritual Significance of Angkor Wat: Art and Architecture as a Window into Transcultural Heritage
Barrett-Gullion, Kaitlyn Adèle
Barrett-Gullion, Kaitlyn Adèle
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Abstract
Angkor Wat is widely recognized as the largest existing religious monument and temple complex in the world, its sprawling city stretching over 100 miles of rainforest. Despite facing years of war and centuries of abandonment in its isolated position in the Cambodian jungle, Angkor remains a mystifying and vital civilization, influenced by a multitude of cultures, religions, and ideologies throughout history. This thesis aims to investigate the cultural heritage significance of Angkor Wat and the ways in which it has been shaped by various beliefs over time, ultimately earning its place as a site of global anthropological importance. In guiding this study, how has Angkor Wat been influenced by different systems and ideologies over time, and how, though this, has it has gained transcultural importance? Angkor Wat is an indispensable monument, emphasizing that preservation on a global scale is necessary. Through an analysis of Angkor’s art and architecture, this paper will demonstrate its religious and spiritual significance as important to global cultural heritage. The feats expressed in Angkor Wat reflect the Khmer empire's connections to various beliefs and cosmological systems that influenced its construction, situating Angkor Wat as a symbol of cultural heritage, worthy of protection on a global scale. It is important to recognize Angkor Wat's transcultural significance– though originally built to represent a specific Hindu belief system, it has evolved over time to demonstrate a much wider anthropological and cultural importance. By using a combination of secondary scholarly articles and primary source journals from historical explorers, I aim to prove Angkor Wat's global cultural heritage value. It is generally agreed that the complex needs to be preserved, but each piece of literature argues for one specific framework, lacking connection between different cultures. Overall, this paper will provide a comprehensive understanding of Angkor Wat's cultural heritage from a broader, interconnected perspective.
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Thesis (B.A. in Humanistic Studies, Minor in Communications and International Affairs)--John Cabot University, Spring 2023.
Date
2023
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Angkor Wat (Angkor)
Citation
Barrett-Gullion, Kaitlyn Adèle. "Exploring the Religious and Spiritual Significance of Angkor Wat: Art and Architecture as a Window into Transcultural Heritage". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2023.