Angkor Thom

Tour Around Cambodia

Angkor Wat Honeymoon

Siem Reap Angkor Wat

Angkor Thom City is the Ba yon temple 4 faces

The Royal City of Angkor Thom , the last Angkor area capital

The Angkor Thom The crowing achievement of Jayavarman VII, the greatest of all the Khmer king, was the construction of Angkor Thom, his “Great City,”in the late 12^th and 13^th centuries. Spread over and area of 10 square kilometers, this massive settlement is likely to have once supported a population of some one million people. It is surrounded by an eight-meter-high laterite wall, three kilometers long on each side, as well as 100-meter-wide moat.Visitor enter via wide causeways
that lead through fivegiant gates, crowned by Gopuras, facing the cardinal directions (the eastern wall has two gates, the East Gate and the Gate of Victory, which connects the temple

of Ta Prohm to the Terraces of the Leperking and Elephants), which four impassive faces of the Bodhisattva, the enlightened one,staring at every - one arriving and departing.The causeways are line by two balustrades formed by 54 gods on the left and 54 demons to the right with each group holding a Naga snake, a reference to the Churning of the Ocean of milk,the Hindu myth at the heart of Khmer culture.The roads running through the main gates all lead towards the Bayon, at the very center of Angkor Thom.The entire city is a representation of the Hindu universe, with the wells and most symbolizing the mountain ranges and cosmic ocean surrounding Mount Meru.The royal entourage, from the king down to the priests and generals, lived within the city wall, while the commoners lived in wooden houses, probably much like traditional Khmer

house today, beyond the outer enclosure. In the heart of Angkor Thom, the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the leper king are most likely the foundations of a palace complex. The royal buildings were built from wood and no one is sure what they looked like. Never the less, the structures that are left give an impression as to the grandeur of Angkor Thom, the last great capital of the Khmer Empire.

‘Go to Angkor, my friend, to its ruins and to its dreams...’