City of Angkor Thom – Bayon Temple

In all our visits to the Angkor Archaeological Park, we are always drawn more to the ancient city of Angkor Thom, than to the city of Angkor Wat. The Bayon temple, with its 216 serene faces in the heart of Angkor Thom, is one of our favourite temples.

The temple of Bayon was built by King Jayavarman VII and dedicated to Buddha. The temple was originally called “Jayagiri”, which means “Victory Mountain” but was renamed “Banyan Temple” after the French occupied Cambodia. Some say that the faces of Bayon resemble the face of King Jayavarman VII.  

King Jayavarman VII, was considered to be Cambodia’s greatest king.  During his reign, he was responsible for building a large number of awesome temples, rebuilding the city of Angkor Thom and rebuilding and extending the highway system outward from Bayon and the royal palace far into the provinces.  He also constructed 121 rest houses along these roads and built 102 hospitals throughout his kingdom.

Four faces, looking toward the cardinal directions, are carved on the sides of fifty-four towers.  The number 54 represents the 54 days of the lunar calendar as well as the number of provinces ruled by King Jayavarman. So, in total there are 216 smiling, serene faces carved onto these gigantic towers.

Since the construction of the temple, several of these towers have toppled and extensive restoration work, which started in January 2020 is still ongoing.

Restoration of the Bayon Temple ongoing…

The outer wall of the temple features a series of bas-reliefs depicting the daily life and historical events of these ancient Khmer people.

The term relief refers to a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. This term is from the Latin verb “relevo”(to raise). To create a sculpture in relief, is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background.

Though highly detailed and informative in themselves, the bas-reliefs are not accompanied by any sort of text and for that reason there is uncertainty as to which historical events are being portrayed by the carvings.

Below are a few close up photographs of these incredible carvings depicting the life and times of this ancient civilization.

It was awesome having Theoun (Chan) with us. He has extensive knowledge of life in these ancient times and enjoyed sharing his knowledge, explaining the different scenes depicted by the carvings on the walls. Besides being knowledgeable, he also added a bit of humour to his stories. I especially enjoyed his explanation of the Apsara dancers with their closed mouths and elongated ear lobes.  With a cheeky laugh, he explained that the reason why these Apsara dancers have slit like closed mouths and elongated ears is because Cambodian women should talk less and listen more! Richard, of course agreed, saying not only Cambodian women, all women to which Chan replied that he has never travelled, so he can only talk about Cambodian women.  I, of course, had to chip in and have my say as this would apply to men as well. In my opinion men also need to talk less and listen more.. LOL

A carving of Apsara dancers in such intricate detail on one of the pillars.

Stretching back to the 7th century, Apsara dancing stems from Cambodia’s Hindu and Buddhist mythology.  The Apsara dance, is a traditional dance of the Kingdom of Cambodia and is an essential part of the Khmer Culture.

King Javayarman VII was said to have over 3,000 Apsara dancers in his court. These Hindu spirits of cloud and water traditionally represented the paragon of feminine beauty, elegance and refinement.

Below is a video of Theoun talking about the Apsara dancers and how they use their hands during the traditional dance. He explained the meaning of a few of the hand gestures used by the Apsara dancers during the traditional Apsara dance.

Apsara Dancers

We spent some time viewing the bas-relief carvings on the South wall.

There are scenes of naval battles, showing Cham, Khmer and Chinese warriors. The marching Khmer armies with horsemen and officers mounted on elephants, followed by wagons of provisions. 

The daily lives of this ancient civilization. People living in the floating villages, fishing with nets and catching fish, even a crocodile attack. Markets showing the weighing of goods, open air cooking, eating and drinking. Women giving birth and tending to children.  There were palace scenes with princesses, servants, people engaged in conversations, sports and games, wrestlers, cock fights and a wild boar fight. There was also a funeral service where you could see the jar for the cremated ashes of the deceased and the cremation ceremony.

It was absolutely fascinating listening to Theoun (Chan) explain all the scenes being depicted by these bas-relief carvings. Theoun is a knowledgeable and experienced guide with a fantastic sense of humour and we absolutely enjoyed having him with us for the day.

Below are a few videos of Theoun (Chan) explaining a few of the different carvings.

The first two videos are carvings that depict the daily lives of the Khmer people living in these ancient times in Cambodia.

Daily Life in the ancient City of Angkor Thom
Daily LIfe

The following 3 videos relate to sports and recreational activities in these ancient times.

Theoun (Chan) pointed out scenes from the floating villages and fishing with a fishing net.

The video below is of the cremation ceremony and the blessing given for the afterlife (reincarnation).

The final two videos are about going into battle.

Viewing these carvings in the scorching hot sun, was taking it toll on me and I needed shade desperately, so we made our way into the coolness at the base of the temple, were we stopped to cool off in a chamber where there was a Buddha shrine.

While we cooled down, Theoun (Chan) explained to us the importance of meditation.

We decided to complete the other wall carvings on another day.

As we were unable to go up into the central tower or visit the Elephant terrace and Leper King Terrace, due to current restoration of these sites, we decided to call it a day and revisit Bayon on another day.

Besides the amazing temples and carvings, we also say a number of these cute monkeys going about their daily business.

There are hundreds of monkeys roaming the ruins in Angkor Thom. We saw quite a few wandering around outside the Bayon Temple. Although harmless, you cannot leave anything unattended, as these cheeky little thieves will grab anything they can. 

This little chap, who is tame due to being adopted and cared for by the temple guards, was thoroughly enjoying being stroked by this tourist.

We hope you enjoyed this tour around the Bayon Temple with its many serene faces and look forward to you joining us again when we return to the ancient city of Angkor Thom and the temple of Bayon.

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