Jayavarman VII proclaimed Khmer emperor

1181

After a decade of Cham invasions that had reached Angkor and desecrated its temples, a Khmer prince in late middle age took the throne. Jayavarman VII, a devout Mahayana Buddhist, would build the monumental Angkor Thom, the Bayon, and the network of hospital and rest-house temples across the empire. His construction program was the most ambitious in Khmer history, deploying hundreds of thousands of laborers to raise temples that still awe visitors today.