The Bayon temple

In the heart of Angkor Thom lies the beautiful Bayon temple. It was built about a century after Angkor Wat. It is unlike most of the other temples; no walls surround the terrain, and the style is Buddhist. The more than 200 large faces carved on the 54 towers are believed to depict the god Loki, or Avalokitesvara, but opinions differ. For many architectural and symbolic details a fitting explanation still has to be found. There are also some significant changes in style which leads archeologists to believe that the Bayon was built over a long period of time. The third (inner) level with the towers was changed later; the central part may have resembled the Indian temple mount Meru in an earlier stage, similar to temples like Angkor Wat.

Visit the Bayon in the early morning. The sight of the rising sun slowly revealing the many faces with their eerie smile is a sight not to be missed.
Come back some time during the afternoon to have a look at the galleries with their many bas-reliefs depicting scenes of everyday life as well as great battles and military processions. Some of the reliefs were re-carved when the temple later became Hindu. View the reliefs from left to right, as opposed to Angkor Wat. On the small plan at the top of this page the galleries are marked in red.