Editing Khmer architecture (section)

===House of Fire===
{{Main|Dharmasala}}
House of Fire, or ''Dharmasala'', is the name given to a type of building found only in temples constructed during the reign of late 12th-century monarch [[Jayavarman VII]]: [[Preah Khan]], [[Ta Prohm]] and [[Banteay Chhmar]]. A House of Fire has thick walls, a tower at the west end and south-facing windows.<ref>Freeman and Jacques, ''Ancient Angkor'', p. 172.</ref>

Scholars theorize that the House of Fire functioned as a "rest house with fire" for travellers. An inscription at [[Preah Khan]] tells of 121 such rest houses lining the highways into [[Angkor]]. The Chinese traveller [[Zhou Daguan]] expressed his admiration for these rest houses when he visited Angkor in 1296 CE.<ref>Coedès, ''Pour mieux comprendre Angkor'', pp. 197 ff.</ref> Another theory is that the House of Fire had a religious function as the repository the sacred flame used in sacred ceremonies.

[[File:Libraryangkorwat.JPG|thumb|Unusually, the libraries at [[Angkor Wat]] open to both the East and the West.]]