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The fortified city of Angkor Thom (Great Angkor or Great City), some 10sq km in extent, was built by Angkor’s greatest king, Jayavarman VII (r 1181-219), who came to power following the disastrous sacking I the previous Khmer capital by the Chams. At its height, it may have supported a population of one million people in the surrounding region.

Centred on the Bayon, Angkor Thorn is enclosed by a jayagiri (square wall) 8m high and 12km in length and encircled by jayasindhu (moat) 100m wide, said to have been inhabited by fierce crocodiles. This is yet another monumental expression of Mt Meru surrounded by the oceans.

The city has five monumental gates, one each in the northern, western and southern walls and two in the eastern wall. The gates, which are 20m in height, are decorated with stone elephant trunks and crowned by four gargantuan faces of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara facing the cardinal directions. In front of each gate stands giant statues of 54 gods (to the left of the causeway) and 54 demons (to the right of the causeway), a motif taken from the story of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk illustrated in the famous bas-relief at Angkor Wat. The south gate is most popular with visitors, as it has been fully restored and many of the heads (usually copies) remain in place. However, this gate is on the main road into Angkor Born from Angkor Wat, and it gets very busy. More peaceful are the east and west gates, found at the end of uneven trails. The cast .gate was most recently used as a location on Tomb Raider when the bad guys broke into the “tomb” by pulling down a giant (polystyrene!) apsara. The causeway at the west gate has completely collapsed, leaving a jumble of ancient stonal sticking out of the soil like victims of a terrible historical pile-up.

The Southern gate

In the centre of the walled enclosure are the city’s most importaint monuments, including the Bayon, the Baphuon, the Royal Enclosure, Phimeanakas and the Terrace of Elephants.

BAYON

Unique even among its cherished contemporaries, Bayon epitomizes the creative genius and inflated ego of Cambodia’s legendary king, Jayavarman VII. It’s a place of stooped corridors, precipitous flights of stairs and, best of all, a collection of 54 gothic towers decorated with 216 coldly smiling, enormous faces of Avalokiteshvara that bear more than a passing resemblance to the great king himself. These huge heads glare down from every angle exuding power and control with a hint of humanity - this was precisely the blend required to hold sway over such a vast empire, ensuring the disparate and far-flung population yielded to his magnanimous will. As you walk around, a dozen or more of the heads are visible at any one time – full -face or in profile, almost level with your eyes or staring down from on high.
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