Angkor Thom - Bayon

 Angkor Thom (meaning "great city") is the walled central city of Angkor. The exterior walls are about three kilometres on a side. This area, built (really renovated and expanded) in the 12th century by Jayavarman, contains his temple of Bayon. Just north of Bayon is the older temple of Baphuon, built in the 11th century, and north of this is the royal enclosure, Phimeanakas, the site of the no longer extant royal palace. To the east of Phimeanakas is the city's central square and the twin terraces of the Leper King and the Elephants.

I'm going to talk about Angkor Thom in two posts, primarily because of the number of images I still have, even after a thorough culling. This post will deal with Bayon.

The  crowd scene is the entrance bridge to the south gate of Angkor Thom, just up the road from Angkor Wat. Everyone arrives at Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom at about the same time, just after breakfast. As we cross into the walled city and again minutes later as we approach Bayon we are overwhelmed and disappointed by the throngs.

However, moments later, as the crowds spread out in Bayon we find ourselves remarkably alone. Popular spots are populated, but there is always a corner to turn, and a quite spot to contemplate the architecture. This indicates the size of the temples. Bayon is over 22,000 square metres. More importantly it is a warren of compressed passageways, on multiple levels, that open up onto small terraces of the inner gallery.

While Angkor Wat's architecture has been described as classical, Bayon is baroque. It is singular among all of Angkor's structures for the massive four faced heads that rise up from the inner gallery. There are (or were) about 200 faces.

Speculation is that the faces, very similar in appearance, are either of Jayavarman himself, or a bodhisattva, an enlightened being, often who stays behind to the guide the way to enlightenment for the rest of us.

While the great attraction of Bayon is the big heads, the outer perimeter of the structure is ornately engraved with images that tell stories of the mundane, historical events and daily life.

My own bodhisattva appears at the end.