Angkor's vast jungle cities with their mile-long temple complexes adorned with mystical reliefs, and the amazing ruins of the ancient Khmer capital, overgrown by the jungle are the fantastic, exotic remains of a lost civilization - rediscovered in this book.Deep in the Cambodian jungles, nearly overgrown by vegetation, the 116 square mile plains of Angkor bear witness to an ancient civilization. Reaching back to the beginning of the 8th century, the cities and temples of Angkor flourished until the 16th century. During Angkor's history, seven capital cities rose and fell in violent succession. Today they have almost disappeared. Towards the end of the 12th century, King Jayavarman VII succeeded in establishing peace for the region. Protected by thick walls, the king and his followers erected numerous holy temples, only to have them vanquished and abandoned by the 15th century. By the middle of the 19th century, Angkor had nearly faded from memory. It wasn't until explorers stumbled upon these hidden ruins and started uncovering the historical Khmer legacy that interest in the region was revived. With painstaking attention to details, archeologists began to reconstruct the astonishing history of Angkor. Claude Jacques, this book's author, presents the rediscovery of this remote and mysterious location while narrating Angkor's turbulent history. Alongside him, the photographers capture the temples, palaces and ruins of this once magnificent civilization. Together they show the reader how this nearly forgotten cultural treasure is resurrected at the end of the 20th century.