Editing Khmer architecture (section)

===Central sanctuary===
[[File:Tower-Angkor Wat.jpg|thumb|right|The central prang of Angkor Wat temple symbolizes the [[Mount Meru (Mythology)|mount Meru]].]]
The central sanctuary of an Angkorian temple was home to the temple's primary deity, the one to whom the site was dedicated: typically [[Shiva]] or [[Vishnu]] in the case of a [[Hindu]] temple, [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]] or a [[bodhisattva]] in the case of a [[Buddhist]] temple. The deity was represented by a statue (or in the case of [[Shiva]], most commonly by a [[lingam|linga]]). Since the temple was not considered a place of worship for use by the population at large, but rather a home for the deity, the sanctuary needed only to be large enough to hold the statue or linga; it was never more than a few metres across.<ref>Coedès, ''Pour mieux comprendre Angkor'', p. 91.</ref> Its importance was instead conveyed by the height of the tower (''prasat'') rising above it, by its location at the centre of the temple, and by the greater decoration on its walls. Symbolically, the sanctuary represented [[Mount Meru]], the legendary home of the [[Hindu]] gods.<ref>See Glaize, ''Monuments of the Angkor Group'', pp. 26 ff.</ref>